Overton ➞ Slate ➞ Quartz ➞ Go John ➞ Overton loop
It rained last night, and I got sprinkles as I headed north on Cave Creek Rd. I hit the trail about 7:10 a.m., the sun was poking a few rays through the dense clouds, but it remained dusky until after 8:30 a.m. There was enough light to shoot flowers, but not really enough to naturally light them. (Post-processing helps.) The main problem was, I was expecting more of them, as I’d heard CCRP is the place to be for spring blooms. It was mostly bedraggled brittlebush. I’d heard they were wilting, but surely some of it is due to being beaten up by two days of rain? The cup-shaped flowers, all on various cacti, were as closed up as they could be — I assume to protect themselves from the rain. I did find a few blackfoot daisy. The globemallow were tiny & rare. The best display was by the lupine, and there was a very populous patch them on Quartz Trail just south of the Go John intersection. Fairy Dusters represented. There were a few scattered samples of others I don’t know the names of. I saw a few Mexican desert poppy on Go John just north of the northern Overton Trail intersection. Picked up an “Official S’More Tester” t-shirt in the visitor center afterwards. 
Distance: 7.70 mi.
AEG: 920 ft.
Time: 2h 38m
