Elusive Crested Saguaro

 Woke up at 8:30 and opened the door to another warm sunshiny morning.  Calling for a high of 75.  I sat outside in the shade of the awning happy that I had nothing planned for the day.  Just relaxing in the shade.  Temperature a perfect 61 degrees with just a slight breeze.  Still in my PJs.

Wonder what I'm looking at?

Black Mountain to the southeast.

Around 11:30 Yuma started barking as a man approached our site.  Didn't have glasses on so couldn't see him clearly, but he had a dark beard, shorts and a knapsack on his back.  He petted Yuma and then said that he had seen me and Yuma at the laundromat yesterday.  Then I remembered he was the one that owned the sock I found on the floor.

His name is Larry and he was staying on the slab down by the tower which was probably 3 miles from here.  Said he was just hiking for exercise.  He mentioned that about a mile back he came across a crested saguaro and showed me a picture of it and the approximate location.  Now I have somewhere to hike today.

Thinking it wasn't too far, I decided to walk from camp to the location.  After about a mile hiking down Darby Well Road I was becoming overheated by the noonday sun and decided to head back and take the Jeep.

It is hot and my feet are killing me!😩

As I was resting after walking over 7500 steps, in the lounge chair drinking water and resting my weary feet, Larry came back heading for home.  So, I double checked with him of the location and felt confident I would find the prize and show it to you tonight.

Around 2 o'clock, Yuma and I Jeeped up the road to where Larry said to veer off to the north along the fence surrounding the Ajo Pit property.  The going was rugged.  Started out near an abandoned site with a firepit and headed along the fence towards the boulders.

Yuma says lets go up there and look around.

Nothing around here Dad!

It's after 3 o'clock and I'm beat.  My feet are killing me so we reluctantly retraced our steps looking carefully, but nada.  No crested saguaro anywhere.  Got back home and I immediately took two Tylenol and soaked my weary feet in cold water.  Over 12,500 steps for nothing and here I thought I was going to have a nice do nothing day.

Fixed a nice sirloin steak for dinner and then started with my post.  Dark now at a little after 7 o'clock but still have the windows open enjoying this nice 68 degree evening with not even a whisper of sound outside.

I'm going to rest tonight and then after breakfast tomorrow I will try one more time.

Thanks for stopping by.