We drove to the Meridian/Bulldog Saddle Trailhead in the Tonto National Forest. This trailhead is just east of Usery Mountain Regional Park. The Bulldog Saddle/Pass Mountain Trail Loop is 5 miles, we added on two side trips for a hike of 5.75 miles with 1,500 ft of overall gain. View from near the beginning of the Bulldog Saddle Trail, heading counterclockwise on the loop.
We turned around to see the sunrise to the south,
The desert was very green today, with lots of cacti.
We saw many saguaro cacti.
View towards Bulldog Saddle as we continue up the trail.
Lots of interesting saguaro cacti and rock formations along this route.
View from Bulldog Saddle to the north.
View of the ridge to the west of Bulldog Saddle (the saddle is the bare patch in the middle of the photo)
We headed up the ridge to the east of Bulldog Saddle, this was 500 ft gain in 0.25 miles. The views on top were fabulous.View of the Usery Mountains to the northeast from the top of the ridge.
View of the Superstition Mountains to the east, as seen from our ridge top.
Heading down and northward from Bulldog Saddle
Lots of lovely rocky views as we headed down and around the loop.
View looking back to the ridge top we were on earlier on this hike.
Prickly Pear 
We took a lunch break and then continued up the loop.
As we headed up to the junction of the Bulldog Saddle Trail with the Pass Mountain Trail, we saw a small cave in the rocks across the way.
Near the trail junction, we found a side trail to the cave.
The cave
view from inside the cave looking out
And the wonderful rocky views continued as we headed down the Pass Mountain Trail to the trailhead.
View looking back to where we hiked as we neared the end of our trail today.some of the wildflowers we saw along the trail today:
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