Prescott, AZ

From Apache Junction, it's a 2 hour drive to Prescott, Arizona.  The I-17 leads steadily uphill until you see the last of the saguaro cacti, finally we topped out .

The highway into Prescott is choc-a-bloc with big box stores, including, for example 3 giant pet supply stores within a ten-minute drive, but as soon as we turned off onto the road to our campsite at Lynx Lake it was instant national forest, ponderosa forest, quiet roads.

After setting up we drove down the road to the Lynx Lake ruins, a short hike up to a platform looking over:

a pile of rubble.  But there was a great view of the surrounding area, including, unfortunately, rampant development with hotels and housing developments topping many of the hills.

Also some pretty flowers,

blooming desert caenothus,

and this western scrub jay posing at the top of a tree

Bird of the day!

Prescott is at 5000 feet so it's definitely not the Sonoran Desert anymore. In the evening a big storm arrived and blew tumbleweeds and plastic bags across the highway.  We just got back to camp in time before a big rainstorm began.