Desert Hiking: Arizona's Valley of the Sun and Superstition Mountains This was a wonderful experience of five days of awesome hiking and gorgeous scenery around the Phoenix area and in the Superstition Mountains. We appreciated the wealth of fascinating knowledge that Mike Young shared with our group about the geology and the diversity of the plant and animal environment of the Sonoran Desert and the Superstition Mountains. Our leaders Mike Young and Amy Calhoun were extraordinary. We enjoyed the beautiful surroundings at the Apache Lake Resort which was hard to leave. Bob and Ruth Brown

This was a good trip and enjoyable. Mike Young the primary leader did an exemplerary job of flexing the trip to accomodate the various abilities of the participants. I think there should have been some filtration done by Road Scholar before the trip to eliminate those who were not able really to participate. This was especially a factor for the days at Apache Lake where there was not much to do if one did not hike. Mike Masek's evening presentation was very very good. It was one of the things we wanted to see about Road Scholar on this our first experience with them. Unfortunately of the three evening presentations scheduled this was the only one that happened. The hotel in Scottsdale only really got their act together on the third morning for breakfasts. It shouldn't have taken so long and the leaders I think should have been more aggressive about this with them. In the end it was good. The rooms were nice - very good. At Apache Lake the hotel lacked a lot in terms of maintenance and total cleanliness. The staffs made the beds the way a pre-teenager might do their own bed under duress from parents. The food there however, although the dream of a cartiologist looking for work, were really good. Tasty and varied. The breakfasts and lunches ditto. The bar was a real bar which is always interesting. The hikes were well chosen and gave a good range of views and covered different enviroments in the region. The ongoing educational remarks of both Mikes on the trail were a real positive. The unpaved part of the road to Apache Lake was something that needed attention about safety. Also the trip had virtually no opportunity to buy post cards and souvenirs (just at the park office but no one knew that would be the only chance). So we liked the trip and will try Road Scholar again - it was very good.