The Martha Blog : Martha’s Photo Albums : Romero Canyon

The State of Arizona posts these helpful and informative descriptions, reminders, and maps at the beginning of every hiking trail.

We were told that this is a metate, or grinding stone, used by the local Indian tribes for the grinding of corn.

This is a palo verde tree - identifiable by its green bark.

Whew! Only six more miles to the Romero Pass.

In the early light, this giant saguaro cactus stands like a sentinel overlooking the outstretched desert.

The landscape quickly became mountainous and rocky.

This thorny shrub is an ocotillo. It was so green in this canyon because of the rainfall and the warmth.

A baby saguaro pushing its way up through other cactus plants.

No one could explain what this hole in the rock might have been used for.

The landscape became quite barren the higher we climbed.

Looking down into the first canyon - we saw lots of cactus, cottonwoods (the yellow trees in the distance), and plenty of thorny ocotillo.

One of our guides and a very fit guest made good time up the mountain.

The trail quickly got higher and higher, steeper and steeper.

The cactus didn&#039;t look so good the higher we went.

A phenomenal view of the mountain ranges in the distance - I kept stopping to take pictures.

Here I am, looking a bit tired, halfway up the mountain.

A banana provided a bit of energy for this intrepid and avid hiker.

This lone agave was spotted amongst the rocks.

We have lost the rest of the hikers, who are quite a distance from us - however, we kept in touch by radio.

A beautiful waterfall was spotted down in this canyon.

This rock was peculiarly shaped like a throne.

To the right of the sharp peak, the Romero Canyon was still elusive.

There was a good signal, so I found a comfortable seat in view of the falls and made a few phone calls and wrote a couple of emails!

The way down was really a lot more fun than the way up.

And the weather got better and better as the day progressed.

I am much happier now that the very strenuous hike is almost over.