Friday, February 6, 2015

Hiking the Wind Cave Trail in Usery Park AZ

After all the rain and chilly weather here in Mesa, Az finally passed through we decided it was time to drive out of the city and do a little hiking. We had heard a lot about the trails in nearly Usery Mountain Regional Park so we decided to head out that way and check it out. Usery Regional Park is one of several regional parks in the Phoenix area. After a short 30 minute drive from town we were in the rolling hills covered in typical Sonoran desert vegetation.

There is a charge of $6.00 per vehicle to enter the park and to be honest I really hate to have to pay just to go on a hike. But  since we heard good things about this park so we ponied  up the six bucks and found a small lot to park in. We found a short one mile hike was near where we parked so we walked along the Merkle Trail then took the spur on the Vista trail which put us on top of a small hill with a great view.

Usery Regional Park boasts having over 29 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding and this is a  beautiful Maricopa County Park. Now it is a bit confusing with it being called Usery Mountain Regional Park since the mountain here is Pass Mountain. The Usery Mountains are actually northwest of this park. The photo I took with the large "Phoenix and Arrow” in white stones is actually on the Usery Mountain. I really doubt there is any hiking near there as there is a huge Fish and Game shooting range there. We heard nonstop shooting the entire time we hiked.

After doing the one mile hike we drove over to the trailhead for the Wind Cave trail. This 3.2  miles (out and back) trail starts at 2000 ft. and we climbed an additional 800 feet from there.Another great hike here is the Pass Mountain Trail which junctions off of this trail. The well marked trail started out easy as it gently ascended through typical Sonoran desert vegetation toward the top of Pass Mountain. After a half mile or so the trail steepened quite a bit  and we continued to climb until we entered a beautiful green lichen covered escarpment.

At this cliff we hiked a short (not so steep) trail to the sign that pointed left to Wind Cave. The cave itself is really unimpressive as it is really just a shallow alcove. However, there was a magnificent bee hive just above the cave that was buzzing with activity. We sat and admired the bees' handiwork as their hive looked like a brain to me and like a cool bicycle helmet to Sharon. From this point we could have hiked further up to the top of Pass Mountain but it was getting late so we decided to head back down the way we came.

We both felt this was a nice exhilarating hike and it  sure was great to be out of the urban sprawl and see a bit of nature. Lots of classic Sonoran desert plants and birds were enjoyed by us we crept up and then back down the mountain… The landscape was beautiful and  the colors were ever changing from early to late afternoon so we paused several moments throughout the hike to take in the beauty.  What a great day!

9 comments:

  1. Looks like a good day. We also have a hard time justifying the day use fee when there are so many places to hike for free. Neat bee hive!

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  2. Usury really is a beautiful park. But we had friends who camped there and in order for us to go visit them we also had to pay the $6 just to visit. I wasn't happy about that.

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  3. The last time we were there, we were confused about he mountains also. We couldn't believe they had a shooting range so close to that mountain.

    Added this hike to our list when we arrive in Mesa later in the month. Thanks for the heads up.

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  4. Enjoyed your post. Check out Musical Instrument Museum (MIM). There are instruments from many different countries.

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  5. Beautiful pictures! Looks like a pretty great park.

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  6. We stayed a few nights at Usery a couple of years ago and had to listen to the shooting constantly during daylight hours. I think it was over a weekend so it was probably worse than a week day (maybe). It's a nice park, but I'd probably stay elsewhere next time to avoid all that noise!

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  7. We love Usery Mountain. The park is so gorgeous. Even though you're minutes from town, you still feel like you're all by yourself.

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  8. We are headed that way in a few weeks. Thanks for the suggestions! I love the bee hives. Must go with Sharon and the bike helmet:)

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  9. More wonderful pictures and a nice day was enjoyed by you as well.

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