Desert Sunset Hike on Day 9

Saguaro National Park (both East and West locations) consumed much more of my interest that I expected and I spent the entire day hiking as many short hikes as possible to sample the area's variety. Each place I hiked, thought the trail wasn't far from the last, had a different feel to it--a different mood. It was interesting to take note of the differences in the plants in each location as well as the variation in terrain. Sampling all these different areas made for a long day, but it left me feeling as if the desert had once again given me something that was somehow a part of me from that moment on.
This video shows some of the sights from my last hike of the day as the sun drew low in the sky. Warmer colors found there way onto the desert from the low angle of the sun, and the familiar quiet of a evening in the desert settled in around me.
This was the end of my ninth day on my wandering trip from Alaska. Once I returned to my vehicle after this hike, I made my way out of the park, stopping often to watch the sun set further and further down--casting long shadows and having final conversations with the uppermost branches of the ocotillo. I didn't leave the park until the sun had fully settled in below the horizon. Then I drove back north a ways and found a quiet place to pull over and sleep for the night the "nest" I had set up in my vehicle. The desert continued to flow through me as I settled in to sleep that night. This is one of my favorite things about spending quality time in nature. It stays with me a little longer, becoming a part of me, it seems, but also awakening a portion of my own wildness.

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Thanks Ryan for sharing your experience in the beautiful desert.