Trailblazers are ready to brave Morgan City Wash. [photo by Tom]

Jim, Li, Justin, Tish, Deirdre, Bud and Tamar .

Starting from an unmarked Trailhead in Lake Pleasant Regional Park, eight Hikers: Li, Tom , Deirdre, Tish, and Tamar joined guest hikers Jim and Justin and hike leader Bud for a foray into the wild riparian area of Morgan City Wash. We were fortunate in that the rain had subsided before we started the hike and only a minimal amount of mud was encountered. The wash itself was a remarkable entanglement of dense vegetation marked by the occasional pink tape marker provided by the Lake Pleasant Trail Group. This is a noted birding area and while we were a little early in the season, we heard a multitude of bird calls during the hike. Leading the group, Bud had a fleeting glimpse of a fleeing bobcat. Several ponds were observed to have little minnow-like fish called Dace.

What a great day to be out hiking.

Heavy brush.

Li was so impressed she fell into one pond, not having a fishing pole, I assume she attempted to fish the old-fashioned way. As we exited the wash and gained the Beardsley trail and later connected to the Maricopa Trail the route wove through a classic Sonoran landscape as we completed a lollipop loop back to the Trailhead.

Drying off after going swimming.

Rock path between the ponds.

Onward follow the trail.

Looking north.

Along the way we were observed by 5 curious wild Burros that inhabit the area. They may be related to the Joe Burrow who I ran into on the January pre-hike.

Looking north.

In total we traveled 9.7 miles with 1500' of accumulated elevation gain during the up and down bathtub hike profile. Thanks to Tom and Justin for providing pictures.