A Hike to Superstition Mountain and A Change of Plans

 

This morning we set out to do a short hike up Superstition Mountain, we walked up Siphon Draw Trail as far as Prospector’s View Trail, then down to Jacob’s Crosscut Trail and back to Syphon Draw. We are guessing about three to four miles total, not so far if it wasn’t a thousand  degrees out.

Looking back at Lost Dutchman  x marks the spot where our rv  is parked.

Almost  back down

 

When we got back to the motorhome and went inside this is what we found.

The laundry hamper and the folding chairs were supposed to keep him off the dashboard, obviously it didn’t work, but he couldn’t get back down.

We are leaving in the morning, we had intended going to Bisbee and maybe Tombstone, but sometimes  with three dogs it is a problem finding a suitable spot to stay. Ivan had suggested White water Draw, which would have been fine except there was no services and no shade so we couldn’t leave them for three or four hrs. Al and Kelly had a few suggestions and gave us the website of a nice RV Park. The website said there was a two dog limit and they didn’t allow some breeds. When I emailed they said they would waive the two dog limit for $10.00 but they didn’t allow Rottweilers, Jake isn’t a pure bred, but it is obvious he is part Rotti and his size intimidates a lot of people,

And so we won’t be going to Bisbee this trip, maybe next year we can plan a bit and come this way when it’s cooler.  So tomorrow we are off to Tucson and after that is under discussion.

Jean

A Drive Down the Apache Trail

 

Another beautiful warm day, we decided to drive down the Apache Trail to check out some boon docking sites  a couple  of miles from Tortilla Flats. Before we left we turned on the air conditioning for the the dogs.

The drive was spectacular.

                                           

Canyon Lake

Tortilla Flats the last stage coach stop on the Apache Trail

Inside the Saloon/Restaurant the wall are covered with dollar bills.

Like the saddle bar stools

 

Skip made a friend

We drove three miles past Tortilla Flats, and saw several areas for camping, but they were very small and too rough to take our RV.

There was more beautiful scenery. 

On the way back more vistas of  Canyon Lake

That is the back of the Paddle Wheeler Dolly that does tours out of Canyon Lake Marina.

We were back at Lost Dutchman Park by noon, today was the first time we had used the air conditioner and we were a little anxious about the dogs.

Guess we shouldn’t have worried,Jake and Louie look right at home.

A 110lb Jake is just what you want on the dashboard, he has no shame either.

We are staying another day at the park and then we are heading down to Bisbee. We don’t know of any boon docking sites near Bisbee, so we are thinking of staying at the Escapees campground at Benson and driving down for a few hrs. if that is feasible.

Jean

Lost Dutchman State Park

 

We left Cottonwood this morning heading to Phoenix to pick up a rim for the RV. but We had to replace a bent rim, and get a tire put on it.

Skip found this Walking Stick on a wheel cover this morning.

Around Black Canyon City we saw the first Saguaro Cactus

We don’t know the Phoenix  area at all, so we set the GPS, it took us right to the door, but instead of keeping us on the highway, until we were within a few blocks of the store, it had us going through the city, down  narrow streets. Of course I wasn’t pleased, but Skip  wasn’t too bothered….

Until,  we reset the GPS to come to Lost Dutchman, and ended up driving through the Phoenix airport, literally, we were directed past the terminals, down  narrow access roads.Of course the big fear was either a low overpass, or getting stuck somewhere where we couldn’t turn around. Once we got out of the airport,we ignored the GPS,  we got on  loop 202 and stayed on it until we came to Apache Junction, got on Apache Trail and it was easy to get to the park.

And what a nice park.

From our site.

 

We are here for two days, we read of some BLM land up the road which we will check out tomorrow. It is very warm here, which is fine for us, but the dogs especially Jake don’t do so well.So it’s a short walk in the morning and a longer one in the evening.

Jean

A Trip To Boynton Canyon and Sea Eagle Comes Through ..Sort of

 

Last time we were in Sedona, we went to Boynton Canyon and were spellbound by the sound of flute music as we climbed up to the Boynton Spire. We decided to hike there again this morning, it is a very easy hike.

The first thing we saw was this sign

We weren’t too worried about the bears as there were quite a few people on the trail.

This area is one of the four Spiritual Vortex in the Sedona area. And no Al, we didn’t hear of an RVers  being taken away in a vortex!

But stone hearts grow in the trees,

 

And magical music still filled the air.

 

Lovely music and spectacular views

Two more hearts

We met the flute player on the trail, as he was putting the hearts in the trees, and giving them to the ladies. Now I have two stone hearts, so I will give one to my Sierra.

 

I heard from Cabelas today, Sea Eagle is sending another kayak but it is going to Anacortes so we won’t have it until we are on our way home. Cabelas is sending me a $25.00 gift certificate for the in convenience.  It is a shame but I am just glad they are sending one to us.

Jean

Cooling Off and Cooling Our Heels

 

Still at Cottonwood, and it is finally cooler, we went for a drive to look around Clarkdale and guess who didn’t take the camera. Clarkdale is an old town, that used to have a huge copper mine,the mine closed years  ago. We went to the old train depot last year.

We also stopped by the Verizon store to see if there was anything we could get to boost our signal. We have an air card that is three years old, plus a Wilson Antenna,our signal has started dropping off, we can start with three or four bars and drop to one or sometimes none at all. The odd thing is we have a Verizon pay as you go phone and it gets four bars every time. Apparently that just happens for no reason, we wanted to upgrade to a newer air card but we couldn’t do that in the Cottonwood store, we have to go to  Prescott. We will live with the spotty service I guess, we will be moving on soon.

We had some interesting clouds this morning, I get up very early and saw this strange light in the dark clouds, obviously reflecting on something.

 

The sunrise a lot more interesting with clouds.

Tomorrow we are heading to Sedona, we are looking forward to doing some hiking, maybe check out a vortex.

Still no answer from Cabelas or Sea Eagle about the missing kayak. I can’t understand why it’s taking so long. I may have to contact Visa and get them to reverse the charge and then I can pay  Cabelas for just one.

Our RV is the one one the left.

Jean

Bignotti Beach

 

Yesterday was a scorcher! Skip and I went into Cottonwood early to do the laundry and get a few groceries. We spent the rest of the day trying to stay cool, the heat was brutal. The good thing about it is soon as the sun dips behind the mountain the temperature drops and we immediately take the dogs for a walk.

The next few days are forecast to be cooler with temperatures in the 70’s.

As you turn off Thousand Trails Road, there are two signs one says 14 days camping, the other says Bignotti Beach. Today we decided to take the dogs to Bignotti Beach.We had walked part way there several times, once the gravel road passes the camping areas the road gets very steep, rough and windy.

You can see a RV parked in the trees at the top of the picture, I think they have the nicest site .

We took the Tracker because Jake can’t walk that far anymore, in fact today for the first time he couldn’t jump into the back of the car, he tried and fell back, so Skip and I lifted him in. He’s over a 100lbs  so I think we will look for a ramp for him. Makes me so sad.

It was about a two mile drive to a parking area, where a sign said trail to river.

There was an overgrown neglected picnic area.

The trail

This is what we found

I guess Bignotti Beach is the Verde River, it was a nice cool area to walk in, the river was running quite fast so we had to keep the dogs on leash,

Aside from the river it is quite rugged country.

The road is up there somewhere.

We still haven’t got any answer from Cabelas, on Thursday they said they and the vendor, Sea Eagle, were trying to find out what happened to the missing kayak. I have already told them I want either a kayak shipped to me or I want a refund for one kayak.

Jean