Desert Surprises (03-04-14)

Paul and I managed to fit in two hikes before we left the Phoenix area.  The first one was supposed to be the Siphon Draw trail to the Flat Iron Trail. 

This is a 6-7 mile hike with 3200 feet of elevation gain. We didn’t make it to the top- after 2 hours of hiking we were only half way there and 1700 feet still to climb. At the top of this picture you an see the Flat Iron portion of the trail.  It does look like an iron.  If you enlarge the picture (click on it)  you will see the little tiny people on the trail.

   We didn't get on the trail early enough in the day to make the whole trip.  Once we got to the basin part, the going got a little slippery and slow going. The trail is pretty steep. It wasn't anything we couldn't handle, but I got concerned about making it back down. Sometimes going down is more dangerous than going up.  I saw many people scooting down on their butts.  I’m not proud- if scooting on my butt is what keeps me from falling, so be it.

Once we had gone as far as I was willing to go, we sat down and enjoyed the view while we ate lunch.

Paul decided he wanted to explore a bit further, so I waited for him while he climbed higher up the mountain.  If it looks like he is going straight up, it’s because he is!

   

Once he was on the other peak he called out to me, and I took a few pictures of him. If you look carefully you can see him standing along the ridge.

It turns out I was worried for nothing, and going back down the slick rock was slow, but not too slippery.  If we come back, I’d be willing to try again to get to the top.

Dutchman’s Trail

The second trail we hiked was actually a combination of the Dutchman’s Trail and the Bluff Spring Trail, in the Tonto National Forest.

Here’s where most of the “surprise” came into play.  The views from the Siphon Draw trail were dramatic and although the views along the Dutchman’s trail were great, they didn't really compare. 

The combination of the two trails was about 9.5 miles long, and took us over 6 hours.  There wasn't a ton of elevation gain, but I stopped to take a million pictures, which slowed us down.

Hiking in the desert after a spring rain brings many surprises.  First of all, there is the water- quite a few streams and waterfalls were running that usually aren't.

The water turns everything green.

The greenery brings out the “wildlife”

 

….and the color and variety of flowers  was absolutely amazing:









    

It was an excellent hike.

We've now left Mesa and have actually been in Los Angeles visiting our daughter for the last few days.  That, of course, will be a different post.

Apache Junction, AZ (2-7-12)

  The last week has been busy. I got my cast off on Monday-and am now sporting a brace for the next month or so.  The wrist hasn’t fully healed yet, so I can’t use the hand for much for a while.  Paul and I also had our annual physicals Tuesday, so we got that out of the way.

   I said we were going to try and find Table Mesa trail again before leaving Lake Pleasant, and I am happy to say we were successful on our second attempt.  A lot of the trail was along an old road, but once we started gaining elevation, the views of Lake Pleasant were awesome.

 

At the top of this mesa were the ruins of some Indian dwellings. You can see what’s left of one of the walls in this picture.  Unfortunately for me, the last 10 feet were a killer, so this is as close as I got.  I’m not up for rock scrambling yet.  We didn’t see anyone else on the 6.5 mile trail- I don’t think many people hike this one. It was nice to have the solitude especially since our next hike was on one of the most crowded trails we’ve been on!

We hiked with Elaine and Robert (and about 200 other people) on the Wind Cave trail.  It was a 6 mile hike with a fair amount of elevation gain. Elaine had hurt her ankle, so we decided we would both have a good excuse if we didn’t make it all the way up, but we had no problems and enjoyed our lunch once we made it to the top.

I often debate with myself how much information to put in the blog about the trails we hike.  Sometimes I want to put information/data in so I will be reminded later how difficult or long a trail was and how much elevation gain it had.  I don’t track the information anywhere else, but the other day Paul was buying new hiking boots and we were saying that we had no idea how many miles I have hiked in my boots, so we’ve decided to keep a spreadsheet of our hikes with all the pertinent details.  Don’t worry, I won’t post the spreadsheet here!

Between Elaine and Robert and Paul and I, we have spent time in quite a few different Phoenix area RV parks in the last week or so.  The other day they finally caught up to us at Lost Dutchman State Park.  There are a lot of programs and activities here, and the other night we all attended the Moonlight and Music program.

Yesterday was adventure day- we set out early and followed the Apache Trail. The trail follows an ancient Indian migration route through the Superstition Mountains, and most of it is a twisty, windy, very narrow dirt road. It’s an all day adventure because there are so many things to stop and see along the way. 

Our first stop was at the bar in Tortilla Flats, (population: 6).  Since it was our first stop of the day, we opted for coffee instead of an “adult beverage”.  The seats at the bar are saddles, and the walls are papered with one dollar bills, most of which contain a message written by the donator.

 

There were numerous places to pull off the road to enjoy the views, and more campgrounds along the way than we expected to see.  There are also 3 lakes- this one is Apache Lake.

 

Roosevelt Lake is the largest lake along the trail, and the road we were on was originally built to bring in supplies to build the Roosevelt Dam.

After passing the dam, we soon came upon the Tonto National Monument, which consists of the remains of some ancient cliff dwellings.  They were inhabited by the Salado Indians from about 1050 to 1450 A.D.  It’s always amazing to me that these ruins still exist today, and even more surprising that we are allowed to walk through them.


Our final stop of the day was at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. None of us felt like going home to cook, so we enjoyed this particular stop a lot.  Plus the food and company were great!  Elaine and Robert have left today for their next stop, which is Picacho Peak, one of my favorite hikes.  We plan on meeting up with them again in a few weeks as we all make our way towards California.