Four Trailblazers are ready to brave the elements on Beardsley Trail.

David, Sue and Lisa.[photo by Stan]

Four Arizona Trailblazers had a glorious exploratory hike on the Beardsley Maricopa Trail on Dec 29 where the weather was cloudy but not a drop of rain as the hikers considered the temperature perfect. As we found a beautiful riparian area shortly into the hike on Beardsley Trail.

Beardsley Trail Sign.

Flowers at trailhead.

As we went down the short downhill, there was already some puddles of water in the trail, but that was just a glimpse of what was around the bend.

Colorful trees when starting downill.

The Agua Fria River and Morgan City Wash merge at this point as the stream goes off in two directions with one pointing to the Beardsley Trail.

Junction of Beardsley and Maricopa.

Cottonwood, mesquite and salt cedar trees and two small foot bridges made this a perfect spot for photos. We had to carefully cross the shore above the stream as it was a small area, muddy and slick.

Lisa at walk bridge.

Sure enough, on the way out I slipped and fell in the mud, but realized after a few seconds that the only thing I hurt was my pride. After a few turns, the trail moves away from the stream into dessert brush.

After three quarters of a mile, we could not tell where the trail went so we decided to go on the Maricopa Trail, which parallels the Central Arizona Project canals in a scrub bush desert setting.

Sue near stream with David behind her.

This section of the trail was a continual burst of up and down hills as we did about 500 feet in elevation and ended up with 8.2 miles.

Cactus dot Maricopa trail.

This is part of the Lake Pleasant hiking trails so there was a $7 parking fee. Losing the trail means we will just have to go back another day so we can find where the Beardsley Trail continues.

We constantly had good views of the surrounding mountains including the Bradshaw and Cave Creek mountains. It was pretty quiet except for the occasional guns heard from the nearby shooting ranges. The Maricopa Trail is more than 300 miles and circles the county. We started at 10 am and finished at 2:30 pm

David taking a break.

Saguaro on Maricopa Trail.