StefanBill.com

After a warm week, I noticed the high dipped down to about 78 degrees today. I figured I’d take advantage of the last sub-80-degree temps I’d see until late fall and go trail running in Saguaro National Park East.

My previous visits to the park involved exploring the network of trails at the end of Broadway Blvd. This time I went to the end of Speedway Blvd. to the Douglas Spring Trailhead, which is farther north and east. I had read a description of Garwood Dam in a trail guide book and wanted to check it out, and the total distance was only about 4 miles–perfect for a quick jog.

From the trailhead, I took the Douglas Spring Trail 0.2 miles east and turned south on the Garwood Trail, which I took the rest of the way to the dam. The trail consisted of gently rolling hills, but a bit more elevation gain & drop than the network of trails from Broadway. There were plenty of intersections with connecting trails, so I made sure to turn around and look at each one so it would look familiar on the way back.

The desert was still surprisingly in full bloom and I spotted at least 10 different flowers. I saw a bit of wildlife along the way too, including insects, lizards, birds, and a quick glance of something that looked like a chipmunk. Fortunately there were no mountain lion or rattlesnake sightings. At the dam, several lizards were parked alongside an ant trail, watching their food go by and selecting their snacks as humans would at a Japanese sushi bar.

The dam itself was more impressive than it looked in the guidebook. The Park Service had drilled holes in the base of the dam, so it was no longer holding any water back, but there were some tinajas (pools of water in rock depressions) below the dam. The Park Service also put up their lawsuit-prevention sign warning visitors “do not climb on dam due to threat of falling”. I’m not sure if they meant me or the dam. If I had fallen, or if the dam had fallen out from underneath me, I’d have dropped about 15-20 feet, so I suppose they had a point.

I didn’t see anybody else on the way out to the dam, but crossed paths with 5 people in 3 groups on the way back, when it was a little later in the afternoon. I’m guessing this is a reasonably popular destination, and the mid-day heat (and workday) were keeping most of the traffic away.

Enjoy the pictures!

UPDATE: Garwood Loop is now described at Earthgoers.