I love hikes that have some sort of goal or destination involved. I guess it motivates me to continue on for a few more miles, instead of heading back to the truck for a cold one.

Trail-head at Hornblende Canyon

Hornblende Canyon is one of those areas that we have driven passed for years without giving it a second look. In our defense the trail-head is a bit hard to see and if you blink you will miss it.

The trail has all of our requirements for a good hike, beautiful scenery, seclusion and in this case morteros located at the top of a dry waterfall.

The canyon walls quickly rise up as you start the hike

We got a late start so our goal was to make it to the morteros which are about 2 miles up the canyon. Apparently there are also a few old mines in the area, but those would have to wait for another trip.

There are some amazing rock formations as you continue up Hornblende Canyon

The one downside of this otherwise beautiful canyon hike was the proliferation of a parasitical plant which I believe is called Desert Dodder(?). Looked like it was choking the life out of some of the native cactus and other desert plants.

Mary rescuing desert plants during our Hornblende Canyon hike.

Almost stepped on this little guy.

After scaling the dry waterfall we reached our destination. At first we only saw a couple morteros, but a little higher up, perched on the edge were a group of six .

Moteros in Hornblende Canyon

It was obvious why the Native Americans chose this spot many years ago. There was a nice breeze coming up the canyon and a beautiful view back down the waterfall. 🙂

View back down the dry waterfall in Hornblende Canyon

Morteros in Hornblende Canyon

Hiking back down the canyon was twice as fast since it was all downhill. Another one of my hike requirements 🙂