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| Julie and I and four friends hired a jeep to take us to the entrance to Nacupule Canyon where we hiked a round trip into and through the canyon. The entrance is from a scrub filled desert valley into a lush and green oasis where water pools flowed around rocky outcrops. | |
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| Palm trees filled the canyon from end to end and greenery of all kinds flourished in this damp environment. Of course cacti of all kinds grew alongside the lush palms and the effect was magical. | |
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| The steep walls of the canyon were mostly red vertical rock faces which contrasted starkly with the deep shadows down below and the greenery. We basically followed a rough trail up the creek bed and huge boulders such as these created fabulous caves to explore and clear pools of water to gaze into. | |
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| We were all getting to about the halfway mark at this point and some of us were feeling a might tired in the heat. A nice cool cleft in the rock created the perfect spot to recline and sip some water. | |
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| A number of side canyons beckoned to be explored on our next trip up here. | |
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| It was hard not to pose for a few photos with these lush palms making it feel as if we were in the south pacific. The striking contrast between the palms and the cactus trees was always an interesting site for us. | |
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Finally we reached the exit point from our canyon and began the short but steep trek down into the desert plain below. The change from lush to dry landscape was abrupt and immediate as we moved over the lip of rock and descended. |
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| The views from here down the valley to the Sea of Cortez were many and it was hard to keep an eye on the treacherous loose rocks of the trail. On the right you can see a typical small Mexican cattle range with a few cows, sheep and goats which we see on most of our hikes roaming the hills. | |
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| Looking up from the base of the hill we just descended you can see the two red outcrops where we found our exit from Nacupule Canyon. This time of year the deserts are abloom with flowering cactus and bushes with wildflowers everywhere and every time I turn my head I see a photo opportunity. From the start of our hike making the round trip back to the beginning it took us three and a half hours with an easy pace and lots of breaks. | |
