Mike in the Wild

Long before there were European and American explorers, and even before there were the modern Native American tribes we know today, the Hohokam people called the river valleys of central and southern Arizona home.  They left over a thousand years of archaeological evidence in the area before their culture collapsed in the decades leading up to 1500. Today the area is dotted with the remains of their settlements.  And their own extensive canals are part of the water ways still in use today.   Local museums are filled with their pottery, jewelry, tools and handiwork.  And numerous hikes and explorations in the desert offer a unique glimpse into their lives via their rock carvings. Called petroglyphs, these images picked or chiseled into stone surfaces seem to represent both the animate and abstract.   Most experts agree that they're not graffiti because of the tremendous effort put into their creation.  It's possible that the Hohokam were acknow...

It's a short and easy hike that promises a good look at the ancient cultures, riparian areas and grassland mesas that the park is protecting. Lightly streaming water crisscrosses the one mile descent from the mesa-top trailhead along the course of  the Badger Springs Wash.  Just before its confluence with the Agua Fria River you're greeted by a collection of ancient petroglyphs high on canyon walls.  Upriver to this waterway are massive, rounded boulders with several waterfalls. Meanwhile, all around you is a lush riparian area with tall cottonwoods and deep water.   While the trail ends at this point, the park service encourages you to explore the banks of the river.  Flora and fauna abound, with wildflowers and grasses thriving during my early spring trip.  I was able to identify a number of desert birds, including phainopeplas, Costa's hummingbirds, house wrens, canyon wrens and verdins.  I saw a medium-sized red bird that could have been a car...