Waddell, Arizona.

On a warm but cloudy day, we ventured out on our first Arizona hike of the 2018-19 season. In late November, I led a short 3.8 mile hike with our hiking club in Buckeye. It was fun to be back with the group again. In the last couple of years, we’ve added some far more experienced hike leaders than I to our group and I expect the group will have a wider variety of difficulty level and length than we’ve previously provided. Being of a certain age and stamina, I expect I’ll be leading the shorter and less athletic hikes. I’ll let the younger and more physically capable hikers lead more challenging treks. I will likely challenge myself on some of them, but I think I will focus on offering hikes for those who, like me, are interested in a walk in the desert instead of a physical challenge. All in all it will be good for the club as it’s membership will grow with a more diverse ability set.

About the photo: The views of the desert are verdant this year with plentiful rain in the region. The day’s clouds would culminate in rain showers starting late in the evening. I captured this image of one of the buttes as viewed from Ford Canyon Trail in White Tank Mountain Regional Park using my Samsung S7 cell phone camera. The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple. The image must be captured on a mobile device.

John Steiner