What a difference a cold north wind can make to Arizona. It dissolves the horribleness of the state. After a summer of only a small bit of walking, this cold wind makes hiking the best thing to do. Sometimes, the wind even disappears because of the arroyo banks or canyon walls.
But I love the way the wind hits your skin and charges up your soul-battery. As usual we walked on a loop through arroyos that I wasn't too sure of. The little dog had an easy time running on the smoothed pebbles in an arroyo.
There was a surprisingly large blotch of lichen on a north-facing wall along the little canyon. Perhaps the strangest example I've ever seen. There were more barrel cactuses around than I remembered. What handsome plants they are!
This kind of hiking is unpopular. Most people look up brand-name hikes on the apps, I guess. They usually go to the top of a mountain -- don't ask me why. Most of the desert is useless, lifeless, and full of sharp rocks and cholla. But these arroyos are the veins and arteries of the desert. They collect water three days a year. They are green compared to everything else. What life there is, is here.
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