Hiking on the Go John

Trying to get as much outdoor time as possible before it gets too hot, Cindy, Melanie and I hiked the Go John trail on Monday morning. It was a gorgeous day. The Go John trail is inside the Cave Creek Regional Park. As we were turning to drive up to the entrance, we saw a field FULL of sheep! It's not a very common site around here and so I had to take a photo. They were enjoying eating the weeds and grass that have sprouted all over the desert this year.

So in the spirit of Easter, I was dressed all in pink. I even had my arms bare. I've been wearing my compression shirts as ordered since my surgery, but couldn't bear the thought of hiking in a long sleeve shirt yet again. For those of you who noticed before, you can see that the Shar Pei look is gone from my upper arms! I need to be careful though, I understand I shouldn't get my incision lines sunburned. And I have also recently appreciated the use of bandanna's for their original purpose of mopping up sweat!

The Go John has really nice view in every direction. Here is a view from the saddle of the first big uphill push. And here is Cindy and her daughter Melanie, my hiking companions.

Here is another view to the north. There were lots of lovely wildflowers along the way too.

Some California Poppies.

Hedgehog cactus in bloom. Their flowers are startlingly pink! They really knock your socks off.



And I always love the mixture of poppies, lupine, grass, palo Verde.

The Go John is a little over 6 miles long. Some up and down and flat. It's a good work out. Here is Cindy and Melanie disappearing through a lush green wash.

We've been hiking for about a year and a half now and have started to repeat some of our favorite longer hikes. This was my third time on the Go John. As we were hiking Cindy and I were both thinking about when we went to Aravaipa last year. Yesterday I was able to get us a permit for April 23rd. So back we'll go there again. Hopefully this time, I won't meet my friend mister snake.