ESTES CANYON - BULL PASTURE TRAIL

Yesterday we hiked the Estes Canyon - Bull Pasture Trail. This trail is the most strenuous maintained trail in the Monument, but the views are amazing! The Trailhead is along the Ajo Mountain Scenic Loop Drive. The trail is actually two trails that form a loop, plus a spur trail that takes you out to Bull Pasture. From the trailhead we soon reached the fork, and we took the Pasture trail (to the right). Mountain ridge after mountain ridge is revealed as you climb up, up, up, and then reach a point where you can look down into Estes Canyon. Then you go up some more and reach the fork which either leads you down into the canyon, or ascends up over another ridge to Bull Pasture. We took the spur (which means you just go out and back - it doesn't loop) trail, and just as I was saying "this doesn't seem that strenuous" the trail got steeper, the cliffs sheerer, and the rock steps more difficult to navigate. But the views also got more dramatic, and when we finally reached Bull Pasture, we stopped for quite a while to take it all in. We also saw (through binoculars) a pool of water above the canyon that created a small, but audible, waterfall between huge rocks in the mountainside!

Going up towards Bull Pasture

Still going up

View from the crest of the trail, looking back towards the trail

As we came back down, Darell took this photo of me on the trail, and I include it so one might get a sense of the scale of these rocks and peaks:

That's me, just to the left of those green shrubs in the center of the photo

When we returned to the loop part of the trail, we took the Estes Canyon leg, which led us down into the canyon floor, along a wash, and through the riparian habitat that hosts the most life in this desert area. This is the trail that birders treasure, and the twittering and calling of several different birds accompanied us along the way. The cacti and trees grow bigger through this part, as this is where the water rushes most heavily during the rainy season. By this time, it was late afternoon, and the shadows brought a sense of peacefulness and calm to the landscape. A cactus arm grows across the trail making an arch to walk beneath.

A cactus arm arch

Oh No! Your trail experience is almost over!

The last part of the trail crosses the wash, and we saw a rabbit crouched in the undergrowth at the edge of the wash - we watched him, he watched us for a spell, and then we all moved on. He, toward the safety of denser underbrush, we, towards the Chinook, and ultimately to a dinner where we were thankful for (among many, many other things) such a glorious day enjoying the beauty of the Sonoran desert!