Woods Canyon Lake Overflow hike

We decided today to do the hike we postponed last Tuesday due to inches of rain right up until the hike. Today however, was sunny and the last rain was two days ago so off we all went.

We arrived at the lake parking lot, by the little store they have there. We crossed the parking lot to the right and headed directly for the dam. Here, the overflow is actually bedrock and there is a trail that leads to the right, following the water course.

Since we've had monsoon rains for a few days, the entire area was green and the little outflow stream was there, watering all the plants. The hike was pretty level, running along the bottom of the canyon. We had to cross back and forth across the small stream several times but there were no slippery rock mishaps.

There were 23 of us today enjoying the cool mountain breeze flowing through the bottom of the canyon. We stopped for snack about 1 1/2 into the hike along the stream side there there were a lot of rocks to sit on.

That gave me the chance to pull out my Flowers of Arizona book and look up the name of a small blue flower growing on a stem with leaves that looked like blades of grass. I thought it might be Blue-eyed grass but it turns out it is Birds Bill Dayflower. Very pretty. There were several other flowers along the way, one very dark red called a cinqefoil. Butterflies were out in force but wouldn't hold still long enough for Randy to get a picture. On the way back to the dam, we encountered a blue heron standing in the reeds along the small creek. What a nice surprise. We also spotted an eagle's nest in the top of a dead tree but didn't see any eagles near it.

Overall, a great day for a very nice hike. This, I'm sure, will be a group favorite for many years to come.