Whiskey Bottle Trail

The Fraesfield Mountain trailhead is an often overlooked spot in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. The trails there pass along a wash on the northern base of Fraesfield Mountain, a large inclusion of quartzite in the surrounding granitic Pinnacle Peak Pediment. The north-facing slope of Fraesfield Mountain is notable for its vegetative similarity with the north-facing slope of Brown's Mountain to the west. Plants seen along Whiskey Bottle Trail are also found on the north slope of Brown's Mountain. There are wonderful views of the northern preseve from along that trail. Whiskey Bottle Trail is well-named; I have a half-pint whiskey bottle dating (IIRC) from the 1930's that I found in that area long before it was in the MSP; I'd return it but that could be considered littering.

Added one new taxon to the catalog, Hordeum pusillum, a native annual grass.

Posted on April 30, 2017 08:20 AM by stevejones