Maricopa County Parks and Recreation: Evening Nature Hike

Learn about wildlife of the Sonoran Desert and easy citizen science you can help with on this late afternoon-evening hike with Ranger Eric. Join Ranger Eric to look for and learn about the diurnal and nocturnal critters of the Sonoran Desert! We will start out in the late afternoon but will be hiking back after dark (sunset is about 7pm). Wildlife may include scorpions, spiders, insects, owls, nightjars, reptiles, and mammals. Hiking will be an easy to moderate grade on occasionally rocky or uneven terrain and will be about 2 miles roundtrip on the Cottonwood Trail. Please bring your own ample water and electrolytes, flashlight or headlamp, and wear sturdy footwear. A blacklight is recommended, but the ranger will have one to point out scorpions with. Restrooms are available at the trailhead. Along the hike we will also discuss a couple of related apps that you can use to identify any living organism on the planet, Seek and iNaturalist. Seek is the basic version for identifying organisms, but iNaturalist takes it a step farther by allowing you to share your photographed sightings to a global citizen science database to help scientists and conservationists learn more about biodiversity of our world. If interested in learning how to use Seek or iNaturalist, please download one of them before the program (both are free and available for iOS and Android smartphones) and register an account with the app, as cell service can be spotty in the backcountry of the park. MEETING LOCATION: Cottonwood Trailhead/Day Use Area, accessed from the North Entry Station. See park map here: https://www.maricopacountyparks.net/assets/1/6/lake-pleasant-8x113.pdf Limit 15 participants. To register, please email Ranger Eric at eric.hough@maricopa.gov with your name, phone number and number of people attending. If you find you cannot attend a program after you have registered, please call the Visitor Center ASAP so we may contact those on the waiting list. Registration for this program will close on Wednesday, 4/9. P.S. If you would like to get more practice with the iNaturalist app, check out the Greater Phoenix City Nature Challenge on the weekend of April 25-28! We will have events scheduled at many of the Maricopa County Parks that weekend, but you can participate across the Phoenix Metro area. More information on this 4-day event here: https://greaterphoenixcnc.com/