Wind Cave Trail

This morning we hiked the most popular trail in the park, the Wind Cave Trail. The 3.5 mile roundtrip follows a series of switchbacks along the face of Pass Mountain up to a wind eroded overhang, the Wind Cave. Most of the path is relatively easy, but the 800' ascent and some steeper and rockier areas make it a rather strenuous hike. The effort is rewarded by some spectacular views of the Phoenix valley to the west.

As we ascended the trail, Ken called Rebecca to wish her a happy birthday (her 34th). She is planning to drive over to Las Vegas to have lunch with us when we're there in a couple of weeks, so we'll be able to celebrate then.

One of our most memorable moments along the trail today was the sudden sound of rapid dry rattling--a coiled rattlesnake lay only about 5' away on the path. Ken was behind me, and he shouted "Get back" as he pulled me back away with him. We stood and watched the rattler slowly slide off the path and back under a bush. It looked to be around 30 inches long, on the small side for a rattlesnake, but plenty big to be rather fearsome for us.

Fortunately, the rest of the fauna we saw were less threatening--mainly small lizards and ground squirrels. We also met several other hikers, including one woman who bounded along the path carrying an umbrella. She said that she hikes the trail every three days and that today was the 65th time. As we neared the bottom on our return to the trailhead, we encountered a man who was limping along. He had fallen and gashed his knee, and he explained that it was an artificial knee. We were very aware of the potential for falling or ankle twisting and were relieved to finish the hike without any injuries or further scares.

After lunch we went to Trader Joes and then to the 99 Cent Only store before heading to Walmart to get the oil changed on our truck. The DIC (Driver Information Center) had been giving us a warning to "Change Engine Oil Soon" for the last couple of days.