We’ve been here before. Rio Salado Park is an effort by the City of Phoenix to turn a dry riverbed into a park. The city pumps in water between 7th Street and 15th Avenue which turns the area into a wetland. It is quite a good habitat for small wildlife, and I like to go there just to see what animals I can spot. There are four different quadrants, and I have now explored them all. Yesterday’s walk covered the northwest side of the river between 7th Avenue and 19th Avenue.
I parked my car in the area provided on the northeast side of 7th Ave. and made my way down toward the river.
First view of the river–a green and pleasant place, but you can’t walk there because it’s all water below the surface.
Looking southwest toward the 7th Ave. bridge.
My hike begins. My goal is the bridge at 19th Ave. The sign lies. It might be 1.2 miles as the crow flies,but it is farther and harder walking on the cobbles down beside the river.
What can I say? I’m a troll at heart, and I just like to be under bridges. Wilderness and civilization side by side.
Looking southwest at the greenest part of the river.
It looks easy, but this is rough terrain. Every little rock wants to stab your foot or turn and spill you on the ground.
What a jungle!
Almost everything growing here is green, but this tree is purple.
About 1/3 of the way to my goal, I reached a gully entering the river. This iron bridge crosses it, but, of course, I’m down by the river, and can’t reach the bridge without going a long way back which I don’t want to do.
Trying to cross the ravine. The picture doesn’t really show it, but this is vertical distance I must cross.
As I walked I was surrounded by the flutter of wings and the sound of bird calls, some of them very strange calls, but it was hard to take pictures of them. This bird held still long enough for me to capture him after I climbed up out of the gully I had just crossed.
You know how there is this stereotype of wandering through the desert and finding a sun-bleached skull. Well, I found one. I’m guessing this is a dog or cat skull, but it could be a fox or coyote. Your guess is as good as mine. It is bizarre to find a skull. I didn’t touch it–left it for the viewing pleasure of anyone else daring to walk this rough terrain.
Tunnels. I’d like to explore these tunnels below the city and the desert, but there is no access for someone like me.
I have passed most of the greenery now, and am looking toward my goal.
The 19th Ave. bridge is in sight. This kind of rocky streambed is rough walking–you have to be very careful where you put your feet.
I am close to my goal. I have walked a mile and a half, and it is about 9 a.m. with a temperature in the 90s.
Ah, shade! Now I am below the 19th Ave. bridge. It has been a rough walk. My feet are starting to hurt, even though I’m wearing my best new hiking shoes. I am going to see if I can’t climb out of the river, and find an easier way back to my car.
The last pool in this part of the river.
Wild oleander flowers.
I climbed out of the riverbed below the bridge. From the amount of trash on the ground, this is obviously the place where other people had climbed down into it.
Resting under the bridge . . . this is a kind of tunnel, not high enough for me to stand up in. Will I have to crawl through it to head back?
No. I found a better spot where I could walk through. My plan is to follow the road back atop the reinforced riverbank.
I got a good shot of the skyline of central Phoenix. The city core is only about 2 to 3 miles away.
This is an access path through a sand and gravel company’s private property. There is no one around to ask me what I’m doing here on Sunday morning.
Walking eastward now, I am cut off from the river by this chainlink fence. It looks flat, but that is a 60 degree slope down to the riverbed, and not much room to walk on the other side of the fence. No cliff-walking for me on this trip.
A glance back at the 19th Ave. bridge. I was down there just a little while ago.
There is a long hot dry road in front of me, but it’s better than trying to walk along the stony riverbottom.
I made this walk hoping to see some wildlife, and not in a zoo. All I saw were birds, bunnies, and bugs–a couple of rabbits at the very beginning of my walk, but hundreds of these birds along the trail.
Birds on a fence. Mostly the birds flew away before I could photograph them, but this fraction of the flock let me get close enough to catch them on film.
More birds. I believe these are desert doves, related to pigeons, but not as annoying.
I can see the greenery again. This is an island, and on that island lives some really large white bird. I saw it fly on the trip out, but couldn’t tell wht it was–perhaps a swan or an egret. I think that little white spot on the right middle edge of the photo is the bird.
No reason to take this picture. I just love looking at green.
I found another sign. I still have a mile to walk. It’s 10 a.m. and 100 degrees on the ground, and the bottom of my feet are really sore and tender.
This shot of downtown Phoenix makes it look like it’s built on a slag heap. There was this amazing hole in the ground full of rocks.
The end is in sight. The 7th Ave. bridge is about 1/4 of a mile away.
I am finally going to see that iron bridge up close.
This is the gully the bridge crosses–a kind of a hidden wound leading back toward the city.
You get to see the top of a bridge for once. I guess bridges are the fourth B of this trip. Bunnies, Birds, Bugs, and Bridges.
The black car is mine. By this time it is the most welcome sight of the entire trip.
That completed my latest walk through this urban wilderness. I covered about 3 miles in mid morning on May 19. I took water along with me, and ate a grapefruit at the beginning of my hike. I wore the Trollgod’s hat to keep the sun off my head, and kept myself hydrated. I saw 2 rabbits, hundreds of birds, hundreds of bugs, many of them a kind of black desert dragonfly that live in the swampy part of the river. There was no one with me to take my picture on this trip.
I wish you had been there to hike with me, since it’s always great to have some companionship when trudging through the wilderness, but even if you can’t be with me, I’m still going to go out and walk about from time to time.
If you know anything about the birds I photographed, leave a comment. 🙂
–end
