Postcard from Phoenix

With the Sonoran Desert and McDowell Mountains, Bubba in the Black Canyon, the towering saguaro cactus, and "a ship on a vast ocean of desert", Phoenix has cast its spell on this ocean-loving woman.

A Florida resident for the past eight years, I am a fragile hibiscus flower who craves proximity to the ocean. But I am finding my footing in the desert this past week in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s been clarifying for mind and spirit.

After a day of hiking you need a big mocktail and pie! Collage by Louis Wah.

Hiking the Scottsdale McDowell Sonoran Preserve and my best imitation of a saguaro cactus. Collage by Louisa Wah.

Hiking the Sonoran Preserve

Rocks and boulders underfoot, we trudge our way up the mountain in the Scottsdale McDowell Sonoran Preserve. A 4.4-mile loop trail (a 650-foot elevation track around the mountain) considered moderately challenging should take an average of 2 hours to complete. But the four of us friends make it back down after nearly four hours. The two Phoenix residents, Christin and Mary Linda, slow down for the out-of-towners but there is also a lot of conversation and stopping to take pictures of the towering saguaro cactuses, the magnificent mountains and tiny wildflowers poking out beneath trees and bushes. I don’t want to miss a moment of this incredible landscape.

The Scottsdale McDowell Sonoran Preserve is a large, permanently protected, sustainable desert habitat in Scottsdale, Arizona. The preserve encompasses some 30,500 acres contiguously, and is the largest city park in the United States with 180 miles of trails. (I am glad I mis the rattlesnake warning until after the hike even though forewarned is forearmed). Aside from the sweeping views of the city of Phoenix and the mountains, I can’t get over the saguaro cactuses. Christin tells me it takes 100 years for a saguaro to grow one of its arms. Many have three, four or five or more arms and even one where the arms twist around each other in a pretzel position even the most experienced yogi would find hard to match.

Christin, Mary Linda and Joanie, my hiking companions.

Even as I give myself this month of exploration and reconnection with dear friends as part of My Year of Abundance, the different parts of my lives collide. On the trail, my sister Face Times me during a visit with Mom at the memory care facility. We try to get her to marvel at the landscape but she’s focused on her pain. A small wound on her ankle is giving her trouble and despite being treated by the nurse she’s still hurting. “Why does it still hurt? When will it get better?” she asks in a plaintive voice. I am reminded of my daughters when they were little. My sister explains that her skin is thin and fragile and it takes time to heal. “But why?” I hear Mom ask. My heart breaks a little on that trail. It is perhaps no coincidence that a few minutes later I stumble over a rock and fall flat onto the path, scraping my elbow. Now I am hurting. Mom and I are connected even two thousand miles away.

Fun facts about Phoenix

An eerie black-and-white pan over 1960s downtown was the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.” Downtown has more than 50 murals, best enjoyed on the First Friday Art Walk. And Phoenix once had an underground bowling alley, The Gold Spot, between 1939 to 1950. Remnants are still visible on the sidewalk across from the Westward Ho on the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Pierce Street. Look for the glass blocks in the sidewalk, once used as subterranean skylights, advises the Phoenix Community Alliance.

Meeting Bubba in the Black Canyon

My second day in Phoenix we head north to the High Desert Park Trail in Black Canyon City to meet Joanie’s sister and husband for a hike on an easy trail (my weary feet thank me) that is well-marked with signage identifying different plants including the saguaros and jojobas. We are lucky enough to run into Bubba, the friendly ranger who maintains the trail. When I ask Joanie if she has an extra hat for me, Bubba takes the baseball cap off his head and says, ‘Here, take mine. You don’t want to be without a hat in the desert. I’ll fetch another from my truck.” Now that’s Arizona hospitality.

With Bubba’s help, we find the petroglyphs amid a spread of ancient saguaros framed by the mountains in the distance. Gambill quails poke in the brush. Bubba points out the gila woodpecker that makes nests in the saguaro while the cactus wrens feed on the bugs in the saguaro flowers. He tells us there are javelina—desert pigs—around but they stay scarce.

The sun beats down on us as we end our walk and salivate over the prospect of the legendary pies from the Rock Springs Cafe (although Bubba gives us the insider’s tip that the humble Two Brothers Kitchen has much better food and in his opinion, the pies are overpriced). By the time we leave Joanie has a big crush on Bubba. Christin teases that as the Arizonan, she is in closer proximity to their ranger crush, but they make a pinkie promise to preserve their 30+-year friendship: “Bubba will never come between us.” And yes, I did remember to return his baseball cap.

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