Crested Saguaro Society

Crest Quest Reports


December 7 - 9, 2024 — Off Highway 93 (Any Road Will Take You There)

Report by Joe Orman

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I’ve been traveling on a wing and a prayer.
By the skin of my teeth, by the breadth of a hair
Traveling where the four winds blow
With the sun on my face, in the ice and the snow
                                                              — George Harrison, "Any Road"


How to choose which part of the vast Arizona desert to explore for new crested saguaros? Do you take just any old road? Serendipity certainly plays a role, but informed choices can increase the odds. For this trip, a closely-examined atlas revealed an untraveled Jeep road bordering a desert wilderness area, near where I'd found several crests a year earlier. A look at Google Maps satellite view confirmed the road passed many south-facing slopes covered with saguaros. With that, the die was cast ...


On the drive, I paused for an updated photo of this "yard crest" that Max had spotted 5 years ealier:

Photos dating back to early 2020:
www.crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai200/crest208.php


I finally reached the area I wanted to explore and settled into my usual routing of frequent pausing and glassing. Where the road topped a pass, I pulled over and my binos picked out two crests on a nearby hillside. The first was this top crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest375.php


The second, only a stone's throw away, was this arm crest (Extend-O-Cam view):

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest376.php


From the top of the hill, I took a look all around. Looking back toward Highway 93, I saw an ominous plume of smoke ... apparently after I left the highway, a vehicle caught fire and blocked traffic for a long way in both directions:



My binos also picked out three arm crests on a bigger hill nearby, but the sun was getting low so those would have to wait until the next day. I found a nice camping spot, and not long after sunset the desert became faintly illuminated by the light of a half-moon:



... and the planet Venus shone brightly in evening twilight (as you can see, this is a land of both saguaro and joshua tree):




And I’ve been traveling through the dirt and the grime
From the past to the future, through the space and the time
                                                              — George Harrison, "Any Road"


When the morning sun had taken the chill from the air, I began my hike toward the bigger hll:



At the base of the hill, I came to the first of the three arm crests:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest377.php


Near the top of the slope, the second arm crest. I wondered, how many before me have ever bothered to make this strenuous climb — and have experienced this magnificent view?

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest378.php


I carefully traversed across the rocky slope to the third arm crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest379.php


As I started on a different route down the slope, the serendipity kicked in — I found another small arm crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest380.php


At the base of the hill, I passed across a small rise scattered with the most chalcedony specimens I'd ever seen — literally thousands of pieces!





Entering a gully, I found one more arm crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest381.php


Just before reaching my Jeep, I detoured to check out what I hoped would be another arm crest, but it turned out to be only a fat 3-way Y-arm:




I keep traveling around the bend
There was no beginning, there is no end
It wasn’t born and never dies
There are no edges, there is no sides
                                                              — George Harrison, "Any Road"


Back on the road, I passed a cattle tank ... the cows thought I was giving them the eye, but I was focused on the nice top-crest on the skyline behind them!



The view I had of the top-crest after I scrambled up the hillside:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest382.php


The same old story — from that hill, I spotted another crest just up the road:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest383.php


Farther along the road, I paused to glass another slope and spotted another arm crest (Extend-O-Cam view):

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest384.php


... and from that vantage point, I could barely see the top of this crest just over the next ridge (note the rainbow-colored "sun dog" just to the right of the crest):

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest385.php


On the ground, an abstract pattern caught my eye — the skeleton of a decaying prickly pear pad:



"I bet if I drive around the other side of this ridge, I'll find another crest!" Sure enough:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest386.php


And once again, from that slope my binos picked out another crest. Luckily, it was right next to the road — and it was a rare double-crest:

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest387.php


By that time the sun was setting, so I hurriedly found a flat spot nearby to camp. As I set up camp, the sunset colors glowed in the west:



Later that night, moonlit clouds swirled above my campfire:




But, oh Lord, we’ve got to fight
With the thoughts in the head, with the dark and the light
                                                              — George Harrison, "Any Road"


The morning brought clarity of skies and thought ... and an American kestrel, North America's smallest falcon:



I started off on one more day — my last — of following this winding road through the hills. This crested saguaro was so short, when I first spotted it peeking over a ridge I thought it might be a crested barrel cactus!

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest388.php


From the top of a hill, my binoculars and spotting scope identified a crest far in the distance (it turned out to be 1.7 miles away). Luckily a road passed closer to the crest, so I "only" had to hike half of that distance to get to it. This top crest — one of the biggest I've ever found — became the pièce de résistance for the trip!

crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai300/crest389.php


My sight continually refocused from the large to the small, from the far to the near ... on the hike back to my Jeep, I found more beautiful chalcedony specimens:



Driving out of the mountains, I pulled over one last time to glass the foothills. My binos — and telephoto lens — picked out this big arm crest on a distant ridge, but I didn't have time this day to do the hike. SPOILER ALERT: I got close-up pictures later on a return trip ... stay tuned!



Before hitting pavement, I paused to get a quick updated shot of another rare double-crest just off the road:

My 2018 photos:
crestedsaguarosociety.org/crested/cryavapai100/crest165.php


This time, my planning had paid off — 16 new crests in three days! But luck and a certain amount of wandering had also played a part ... I'd stumbled upon some fantastic sights. Half of the fun is not knowing exactly where you're going.



But, oh Lord, we pay the price
With the spin of a wheel, with the roll of the dice
Ah yeah, you pay your fare
And if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there
                                                  — George Harrison, "Any Road"




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Revised: January 12, 2025
All photos copyright © 2025 Joe Orman