Lake Pleasant
While in Arizona, Katie took me to a few of her favorite outdoor locations. One of those places is Lake Pleasant. We grabbed some sandwiches and had a cold picnic overlooking the lake and then proceeded to go on a 5 mile hile starting at Pipeline Canyon Trailhead and ended at the top of Yavapai Point. The whole hike was 751 feet in elevation gain and took us just over 2 hours round trip.
There was a bench at the summit that read a quote by John Muir; "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves."
4.92 mi
2.2 hrs
2,161 ft
751 ft
Desert Trail
Since I had never been to Arizona before, I thought the Cacti were pretty cool. Katie just thought they were boring.
Tall and Pokey
I didn't take many shots of the cacti, but this was my favorite close up.
Water in Arizona
I came when there was a lot of rain fall, unusually so for Arizona. That resulted in water actually being in several of the river beds.
Lake Pleasant
Lively
With all the rain, things were actually pretty green around Arizona.
Hill Full of Cacti
I thought it was pretty cool to see all these cacti on the hillside.
The Trail
You can see the trail on the hill that we followed to get to the spot that I was at.
Sharp
From Above
This hillside captures the beauty of this hike pretty well. Hills full of green cacti and Lake Pleasant in the background.
Between the Cacti
I had no idea that Cacti could get this tall. Both of these were starting to die, but they were impressively tall unlike Katie (but that's okay, her shortness is cute).
Summit Panorama
There was a pretty spectacular view of the entire lake from the top.
Blowing a Kiss
I made fun of Katie for this photo because of how much it belongs on Instagram. But once I opened it up on my computer I noticed it was actually a pretty well composed photo.
Cacti Everywhere
Cacti were everywhere. We were surrounded. Good thing they move slowly.
Burro
We found a few wild burro on our drive out of Lake Pleasant.
"Wild"
The wild Donkey walked right up to Katie and she started petting it saying "you shouldn't be coming up to me like this". But she couldn't resist petting it.
Two
There were two wild burro that were wandering around together. Both of them were pretty adorable.
