Corn Creek

We took an afternoon trip to find the elusive Joe May Trail. We have tried to find the trail 4 or 5 times but never found it. We can see the trail go up the mountain, but cannot figure out how to get there without bushwhacking first to get to it. When we first started the trailhead was not marked; you followed what the guidebooks said. Since then it has been marked, but we got lost on the trails that cross the Joe May Trail.

We started the day with a walk around the Corn Creek Station, with its pond and extensive growth of cultivated and uncultivated flowers and shrubs (The main cultivated plants are near the ranger's house, you can only see them from the distance.) Many flowers were in bloom. The walk around the pond was very satisfying.

Then we drove up the Joe May Road to the trailhead. The trailhead is marked and easy to find. However, there were many wildflowers that day at that level on the mountain. Some cactus, such as beavertail, were beginning to bloom. We found the rare and endangered Merriam's Poppy aw well as Parry's Linanthus and datura in bloom. We spent so much time looking at the wildflowers both there and at Corn Creek Station that, once we were ready to look for the trail, we realized that we would not get very far on it that day before it got dark. So once again, we failed to make it onto the trail. But we will start and finish the trail someday!

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