Wild Burros and Our Sara Park Hike

October 6, 2010. Bill Williams River, NWR

I'm finally able to update my blog with pictures after my 20 gigabyte upgrade to Picasa Web took affect. You may recall that Picasa Web is the site used for storing Google Blogger photos.

I had wanted to upload in the previous post, pictures of this Wild Burro (donkey) we saw on the side of the road near the Parker Dam (on the California side of the Colorado River).

Wild Burros feed on a variety of of plants, including grasses, Mormon Tea, Palo Verde and Plantain. Although some moisture is provided by these plant materials, Wild Burros must have drinking water throughout the year. They can usually be seen foraging for food during daytime, except for summers, when they will forage only at night and in the early morning.

Wild Burros range through a wide variety of desert habitats as long as they are within 10 miles of drinking water.

This area on California Hwy 62 is known for the Wild Burros that roam the mountains and come down to the road for treats of carrots and apples from motorists. We saw a group of four up on the hillside today while out for a drive.

Yesterday, the weather was absolutely beautiful with a morning low of 70 and a high of 85. We decided to take a hike in Sara Park which is just south of Lake Havasu City. 

The park is full of various trails. The main trail is through a wash leading to a narrow slot canyon.

The further down the wash you travel the narrower it gets. Large rocks block the path requiring some scampering and stretching! This area of the park is known by the locals as Sara's Crack due to the narrow slot canyon and pink coloration. Just use your imagination!

At one point our forward progress was halted by this 8 ft drop. Apparently some hikers slide down the rock. However, it's very difficult to get back out this way. I was told that at this time of year it's possible to kinda get stuck if you decide to slide in. Although hikers can normally continue to hike out of the canyon further in, there could be standing water up to chest deep that hikers would have to get through to get out. This area had heavy rain just a couple of days ago!

So, we turned around and climbed up a trail over the side of the canyon for this great view of Lake Havasu.

After a few hours of hiking it was time to head back to the Jeep and then into town. We had a great time at Sara Park and plan to return and check out some of the other trails another day.