I love the 5 mile hike at Saguaro Lake especially when I stumble upon some wild kingdom relics. Not sure, but we think this deer might have been poached… but who knows maybe coyotes make a clean cut at the base of the spinal cord too?
I saw this deer head in the bushes as I was hiking out and gotta admit, it kinda scared the shite out of me as my brain just registered “head in the bushes”. I was flooded with relief, in the split second that I saw it and I looked around to see that it was a deer head looking at me and not a human.
The crazy thing was that all four of us hiked right past this macabre looking scene on our way in and didn’t see it. It’s was just the right angle on the way out and my timing was near perfect as I glanced over to the right. Wally had already hiked by and didn’t see it so he was surprised when I called him back to have a look. I was listening for rattlesnakes but now I have to wonder what else we hiked by and didn’t see!
Sans the deer head, the lake really is quite serene during the week when all the jet skis and crazy power boaters are at work. We did see quite a few kayaker’s out enjoying the day as well as some bass fisherman.
Despite the lack of rainfall this winter, the desert is still trying to put on a show. I was really excited to see a few saguaro cactus in bloom. The saguaro that were producing flowers had a lot of other buds while many others nearby produced no flowers at all.
This cholla cactus was ready to pop. The flowers have a pinkish – red hue but open up bright orange with the red tips and yellow centers. The bees were silly happy about the flower too.
Isn’t this hedgehog cactus flower just stunning, love the magenta color. The hummingbirds were going crazy for all these desert flowers.
This saguaro was way dead and we normally don’t see them still standing like the one in the picture below. The skeleton makes for a beautiful sculpture, the cords at the top were gently waving as we hiked by – so friendly!!!
We also saw some wild horses with a new foal but didn’t stop to take any photographs as they can be a bit protective of their babes.
See ya later Saguaro Lake and thanks for a beautiful day.
our38ft^pluslife 
Sounds like The Godfather’s horse head in the bed but on the trail. That hike is such a nice walk.
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Yeah, thought you were looking a little out of sorts in that first photo 🤣 Saguaro Lake and Canyon Lake are so pretty and isn’t it a treat to see the saguaros bloom! Unfortunately, with the lack of rains, spring in the desert this year wasn’t as pretty as it normally is…. just another reason to return!
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Ok, that first picture was horrifying. Good lord… I would have had a heart attack too. I wonder how it got there. You would think if it was a hunter looking for trophies, they’d take the head. Ugh. I have no idea. Weird. But thank you for the flower and saguaro pics. Helps clear out that image from my brain.
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It was totally weird but our hiking friends were really horrified when I picked it up and made Wally take my photo! Guess I might be a tad weird too 🙂
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