I haven’t done a real river walk in a couple of months now. It has been too hot, and i’ve been all over those  river parks in South Phoenix several times–getting a bit bored with them. So, I went to the river at a spot further west than I have ever gone before and found to my surprise that it had changed its name–no longer Rio Salado, but now Gila River. And it had quite a bit of water in it. That’s always a surprise with an Arizona river. I walked about a half mile, and I took these pix. Come walk down by the Gila River with me!

These yellow flowers were the only flowers I found down by the river, but there were lots of them. They grow right along the water’s edge.

I like to walk by the river and search for interesting rocks. A riverbed usually provides a wide variety. This rockfield is typical of the rocks I saw today. Do you see any with stripes? That’s what I usually search for.

Does this look like Arizona to  you? Not a cactus in sight!

The buildings beyond the trees across the river are part of Phoenix International Raceway–Phoenix’s auto racing establishment. Actually, it’s south of Avondale, and probably outside any city limits. Phoenix racing is usually in winter and spring. The heat would kill people if they tried to race in the summer.

River channel looks like an irrigation ditch.

Looking at the river from the road. No room for trolls under this bridge.

I collected these 7 rocks on my hike, and they followed me home to be part of my rock garden. I usually look for rocks with stripes–often an inclusion of quartz in another mineral. I especially like the 6th one in line from the left.  Finding striped rocks definitely made the trip worthwhile.

The whole hike was only about half a mile. I could have stayed longer and gone farther, and found many more rocks, I’m sure, but I was a little uneasy leaving my car parked unattended on the side of the road, so I cut it short. If you ever go on river walks, why not leave a comment?

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