We no longer miss a single day of going out for a walk. We still wake at about the same time, but without the confrontation of having to deal with rush hour traffic, it feels like the start of the day is more relaxed and need not be so hectic. I’ve written of our mile loop around our neighborhood a couple of other times and I’ve written about this walk too when I was penning a short story titled, I Am The Toad almost exactly a year ago. Today we are again at the Barrier-Free Nature Trail at the Reach 11 Area. Strange name I know but that’s what it is.

The pond was mostly quiet just after sunrise with only a couple of croaks also know as ribbits over at the tree line. The memory of hundreds of frogs singing to us though could easily be heard. The funny thing about this pleasant walk into a xeroriparian area which is also referred to as a dry wetland is that the change in temperature from the streetside parking lot to the pond is significant. Even on the rare summer days that we walk out here, the main wooded area is much cooler than the open desert. This, of course, has us wondering if all of Phoenix was at one time cooler before the thousands of miles of asphalt, endless cinderblock walls, and concrete was strewn in all directions?

It’s sometimes strange out here, feeling like we’ve been transported out of the desert and into a savannah where at any moment a large cat lying in wait is around the corner, ready to pounce. Instead, we only see traces of man and his dog. We’ll return in about a week to see how the environment changes as summer is soon to approach and we’re also hoping the population of frogs explodes so we can once again delight in their song.