Nature Quest of the Goldmine Trail in

San Tan Mountain Park

The beginning of The Quest!

From the parking lot go towards the park,

Where your adventure will soon to start

A map is there to guide you,

To show you the way through

Maybe you'll see some interesting critters!

Coyotes, snakes, scorpions, and even spiders!

Reflection: The Start of the Quest is simple

and fun! You'll notice a large area with many mountains and hills to explore! The Arizona desert, even in its dry climate, is home to many creatures so be on the lookout for them because they seem to get scared easily!

The Little River That Couldn't

Coming to the river bed, it's as dry as a bone

Just take a little look around this zone

What is it that is making these plants die?

Could it be that the lack of water that's making them fry?

Reflection: This area of the park used to thrive because of the water that once flowed through here. But since the water has been dried up the plants have been getting less and less nutrients

Causing them to choke and dry up almost instantly.

The Plants around the Park

There's quite a big diversity of plants here

I wonder why they all belong here

Is it because of their ability to survive the heat, or is it just because they are so neat?

Reflection: Desert plants have been able to adapt to the dry climate of Arizona. They can conserve water, control their heat levels, and even ward off the pesky little animals to live in these harsh conditions.

The Palo Verde Tree

There are so many plants at the park

It's hard to notice to Palo Verde trees bark

Look how it grows the color green

It's kind of like the color of a green jelly bean!

Reflection: The Palo Verde is native to Arizona and grows green bark for a good reason. It's actually green because of the way it takes in sunlight! The way it takes in food, or sunlight, is through a process called photosynthesis. Since the leaves on this large tree are sooo tiny, the Palo Verde tree has to compensate by making its bark do photosynthesis as well so that it gets its nutrients to grow.

The Large Cacti

The saguaro cactus is the large cactus standing high,

It grows so tall it reaches for the sky.

If there is so little water

How is it that the Saguaro isn't really bothered?

Reflection: One of the greatest sights in the desert is the great Saguaro Cactus. It can grow to a maximum hight of 50 feet!! That's very big, not mentioning that this is in a dry climate. The Saguaro is actually made up of 90% water and can store up to 200 gallons of water at a time, quite a large feat for the desert giant!

The end of our journey

Here's where we must come to an end.

It has been a fun venturing around the bend.

I hope you've learned something about the desert that you live in,

It's something that you'll always have fun in!