Duane and I had driven by the Hassayampa River Preserve many times. We kept saying that we were going there one day. When Brock asked us about it we told him what we knew—it was a nature preserve with hiking trails and a lake and is a favorite with birders. We decided to pay a preliminary visit to see what was what.
There are a couple of maintenance buildings, a small parking lot, and the visitors’ center. We discovered that the Preserve was once a ranch/dude ranch. The visitors center is located in the original ranch house.
The L-shaped front room retains it’s ranch house look,
with the addition of several small but informative displays. The back rooms are for staff use.
The river as it runs through Wickenburg. The water comes up in the Preserve further south.
This topographical map shows plenty of water, but it’s all underground. We have crossed many of these washes, rivers and creeks but non had any water showing.
Since we hadn’t planned on any hiking today, we completed our visit by watching the Annas Hummingbirds and enjoying the small cactus garden.
On our way out via the long driveway, we stopped at this gravesite.
That was a sad story that happened many times during the settling of the west.
As the weather gets cooler more trips are in the planning.
Louise and Duane
1 comment:
If insulting a sister was a reason to murder, we would have a country in total chaos after one of Trump's rallies.
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