Today is a spectacularly beautiful day, here in Scottsdale, Arizona. A great day for a hike!
This morning, we left around 11:00 to jaunt around the Tortuga Trail, at the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area, which is about 8 miles from our home.
The total hike is just over four miles, with somewhere around 300 feet in total elevation gain. We traipsed around it in 2 hours, and 13 minutes.
The cool thing with this trail is that you begin in a riparian area, as you cross Cave Creek, and enjoy spectacular view from the mesa, where the terrain is grasses, cactus, and lava.
We are tickled to death to have all this beauty in our back yard, and have spent many an hour hiking in the mountains, taking advantage of it.
Here is a little 4 shot slide show, with a few more photographs of Tortuga, from my archives.
