Three weeks in the Sonoran desert

[MojaveGeek]

I am always impressed at how green and full of bird life the Sonoran desert is, as opposed to our Mojave.  I have been going to the areas around Tucson and, south to Mexico in the Santa Rita range, for years.  This year I took nearly three weeks.   I've spent enough time that I know my way around out there, and do a lot of off trail hiking, or "connect the dots" style between  places I've been.   The core of the Santa Ritas is a decent set of peaks; Mt. Wrightson is at 9400 (above the plains beneath at about 2500) so there are some good workouts and nice forests up there.   Down lower are pinyon/juniper forest, grasslands, thornscrub, and, at the bottom, big cactus land with the iconic saguaro.   Here's a few photos from the trip.