Crested Saguaro Society

Crest Quest Reports

October 28 - 30, 2024 — I-17 and Lake Pleasant Backroads

Report by Joe Orman

Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another.
— John Muir

I often bet that if I return to an area where I've found crests in the past, I'll be able to find some more. On this outing, I put that theory to the test in two different areas. The first was off of Interstate 17 north of Phoenix ...

Arriving at the hunting ground, I was hailed by this roadside greeter ... I hope its presence had something to do with the fact that Halloween was only 3 days away!

At one pulloff along the dirt road, my binos picked out an arm crest I hadn't noticed on previous visits. I debated hiking over to it, but since it was only an hour before sunset I decided to make camp instead. In the morning, the hike from my campsite took me past two crests I'd found back in 2018. The first:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai100/crest164.php

As always, a Y-split saguaro is a hint that crests might be nearby:

The second previously-documented crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai100/crest163.php

I soon came to the arm crest I'd spotted the afternoon before:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest371.php

Nearby, another Y-split caught my eye:

The late Bob Cardell used to see how many crested saguaros he could get in the same photo; on this day I was able to get three:

Then I scrambled up to a ridge to check up on another of my 2018 crests, this one a double:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai100/crest162.php

On the other side, I found this golden saguaro — the yellow color was not obvious, except right near the tip:

As is my habit, I turned my hike into a wandering loop to maximize the odds of stumbling across another crest. Sure enough, I found this nice top-crest hiding only 400 feet away from one of my 2018 crests!

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest372.php

After returning to my Jeep, I noticed this short saguaro with a wavey pattern right next to the road. There's a good chance it will crest out; I'll definitely keep an eye on it in the coming years:

I continued my technique of stopping along the dirt road and employing binos; from one vantage point I photographed a Y-tip in the foreground, and a wavey saguaro in the background:

This pencil cholla cactus (aka desert Christmas cactus) was bursting with colorful fruit:

I decided to park and hike over to this top-crest I'd found in 2019; my updated photos included this panorama:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai100/crest192.php

I debated whether this nearby arm was crested, but eventually decided not quite crested:

I hiked close enough to this 2020 discovery to get a telephoto shot; the crest has definitely grown in the last four years:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai200/crest218.php

Driving out of the area, I made one last stop to check up on this saguaro — another double-crest I'd first documented in 2018:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai100/crest161.php

On the side of the saguaro, this Y-split arm looks like it's starting to crest:

The morning stars still sing together, and the world, not yet half made, becomes more beautiful every day.
— John Muir

After another night camping in the desert, I was up before sunrise to photograph the thin crescent moon in morning twilight:

Bob and Pat's C955 was nearby, so I checked up on it — still standing tall:

Bob and Pat's 2008 photo:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crmaricopa/crest75.php

Making my way out to the highway, I paused along the dirt road just long enough to snap a telephoto shot of this arm crest I'd found in 2021:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crmaricopa400/crest405.php

On my last couple of drives down Highway 74, I hadn't spotted the distinctive silhouette of the "Fish Tail" crested saguaro (Bob and Pat's C937), so today I parked and walked over to the location. I was saddened to find the saguaro down, its roots apparently undercut by erosion, but I remained philosophical — in an eternal cycle, the old must inevitably make way for the new:

Photos dating back to 2007:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crmaricopa/crest66.php

I then turned off the highway into the Lake Pleasant area, the day's main subject of exploration. I paused along the side road to take an updated telephoto shot of this saguaro I've been watching crest out for the last five years:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/crmaricopa500/crest525.php

Farther along, I turned onto a dirt road and paused for a telephoto shot of this 2021 discovery, far up on a ridge:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai200/crest249.php

This burro was one of a herd that I watched walking across a dry arm of the lake:

Another crest I hadn't seen the last couple of time I drove by ... a big top-crest Joe P and I had found in 2012 ... this time I stopped and was glad to see it still standing:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai/crest72.php

Beside the road, a Y-split with a strong cresting pattern — come on, Baby, crest out!

I eventually parked and hiked cross-country to an arm crest I'd seen from a distance a year earlier. On the hike I encountered this tarantula scurrying across the desert floor:

This time I got a good close-up view of the arm crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest326.php

I scanned the nearby slopes in a vain attempt to find another crest, but saw only the abandoned ranch ruins in the canyon below:

Looping back to my Jeep, I passed this fallen giant which had come out by the roots:

I took a different dirt road out of the area, and spotted this nice arm crest just off the road — I hadn't noticed it on a group ride on this same road a year earlier. No matter how many crested saguaros I see, I'm still captivated by the "whirling and flowing" patterns of each one:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest373.php

On the way back to pavement, I paused for an updated telephoto shot of this crest (another Joe P discovery from our 2012 outing):

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai/crest71.php

Lastly, I stopped for a telephoto shot of this wavey multiple-Y saguaro just off the highway. I've been watching it for many years, hoping it will crest out, but so far no luck:

So, yes, my theory had been proven once again — where luck has favored the crest quest in the past, more crests await discovery!

This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.
— John Muir

Crested Saguaro Society

Crest Quest Reports

October 28 - 30, 2024 — I-17 and Lake Pleasant Backroads

Report by Joe Orman

Back to Crested Saguaro Society Crest Quest Reports page.