For 2018 Spring Break, I once again headed down to sizzling Arizona to see baby sister, Kelly. This time around, Dad was already in Phoenix, hiking in the heat to prepare for his upcoming Grand Canyon hike. Mom had stayed with Molly in Seattle as Sweet P. had just been born.
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| Napping House: Mom, asleep, holding Sweet P while Ezra looks at camera. |
Moments after landing, we headed to the baseball field to catch some Diamond Back spring training. Although her friends had a great spot on the grass, I hid in the shade of an advertising sign, protecting my blinding white Alaskan skin.
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| Baseball field--not enough shade under this sign. |
Payson, the fantastic partner he is to Kelly, volunteered to go out with the guys and stay at a friend's house so that Aravaipa packing could take over the apartment. We were up late, as we laid out all our belongings to double check our supplies.
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| Millie Report: She knew she was being left behind. |
The next morning, we hit up Starbucks for coffee and breakfast, and then hit the road to the trailhead. The sun was already up upon our arrival, but the heat of the day was minimal. Skies were cloudy and we encountered on-and-off rain hiking into Aravaipa. It was actually "chilly" on this Arizona day and my hands holding my hiking poles were red.
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| We're ready to hike! |
Although we had been here before, the opportunity to photograph cacti and look at rocks could not be missed! This is the Bud Cassidy in our veins:
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| Spring Flowers! |
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| "It won't take up that much space in your pack!" |
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| Aravaipa moods! |
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| We had a lot of fun with the new "portrait mode" on the iPhone X |
We made our way to Parson's Canyon, 9.2 miles into Aravaipa. We had a large area all to ourselves. A quick hike up the opposite side gave us some nice evening sun before we made dinner.
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| No minimalist camping here! |
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| Rice, TVP, bouillion, and dehydrated veggies. |
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| Kelly and Dad had a great time getting the food bags 5-feet off the ground... |
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| Okay, maybe 6-feet |
Much to our surprise, it was a COLD night! As much camping as I do on snow, I had not been this uncomfortable for quite some time.
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| Too cold to leave the bag |
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| This may be a vacation, but not a vacation from hygiene. |
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| No heat from this sun. |
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| Turning on Gaia GPS to track our route. |
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| Kelly is warm-ish |
The next morning, it was challenging to get motivated as we made breakfasts in all our layers, including sleeping bags. The cloudless sky made for incredible stars as well as this surprise chill.
After motivating, we tried to walk as quietly as possible, hoping to sight bighorn sheep. This was the one animal we had not seen the previous trip and I was determined to keep my eyes peeled. We found a few great nooks to explore. We were continuing to head east in Aravaipa towards a BLM site: Turkey Creek Cliff Dwellings.
We made it in two hours, about 3.5 miles. (On our way, we did run into Park Ranger Bridget, leading a group of college student volunteers from the East Coast, hiking in the river in jeans. We had heard about her from our previous trip to Aravaipa when we met organic cow rancher, Langdon).
Seeing handprints in the mortar used between the stones and realizing that the hands were roughly the same as mine as I placed them in the prints was chilling. I've always fantasized about living in a world less developed, a fantasy fueled by
Little House on the Prarie series and more from my childhood.
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| Entrance to the dwelling |
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| BLM reinforced opening in the roof |
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| Soot on the ceiling above Dad's head |
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| Dad and me |
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| A view in from the keyhole opening |
On returning to Parson's Canyon to collect our tent and move for our second night back to the West, we ran into several of these college students staring up at the scree slope above the flats of Hell Hole Creek. They offered their binoculars and pointed out desert bighorn sheep far above us! It was amazing to sit and watch the animals. We stayed and borrowed their binoculars until it was edging on over-staying-our-welcome and continued on.
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| Blue heron |
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| Purple Flower |
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| Mexican Poppy |
We cleaned up camp, lunched in the shade and then moved our camp for our second night in Booger Canyon. Booger Canyon had been a recommended side-hike by a gentleman camping with his family at Turkey Creek. Kelly, two years in a row, has been a fearless leader in finding a trail up the convoluted side canyons of rock, deep water, tree-sized cactus, and debris. We all agreed that last year's side-hike was much more awe-inspiring than Booger... I guess names are important.
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| Shade break in the side canyon |
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| Large vertebrae |
Our second and final night in Aravaipa was much warmer. As soon as we went to sleep, I heard rattling in my cup just beyond the tent. Every time I turned on my light, the rattling around ended. I decided it was not life-threatening, put in my earplugs, and went to sleep. In the morning, it was evident a little rodent had made its way into my cup and chewed on my awesome camp spoon! Darn, the luck!
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| The first generation of Thermarests; Kelly had the second, and I have the third. |
The second morning was much warmer than the first as we packed up camp for the hike out. As we rounded the bend in the river, it became quite apparent that Aravaipa permits were maxed out; there were tents everywhere, though most occupants were still asleep. We spotted more white-nosed coatis and accepted that maybe next year we'd find some desert big-horn sheep, that this year we wouldn't be lucky. But as we neared two miles to the trailhead and took a snack break, what sounded like a rockslide just beyond the tamarack lining the river was not a rockslide. As I looked through the leaves, trying to see rock movement, it became apparent that it was ungulate movement! It was a group of desert bighorn sheep! We quickly crossed the creek to get a closer view. They were undisturbed by our appearance as we stayed to watch for about fifteen minutes. One ram, several kids, and multiple ewes. It was amazing!
And with that, we had seen the bighorns, and so, we could leave Aravaipa satisfied. Another refreshing Spring Break in Aravaipa with Kelly and Dad!
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| Kelly, Dad, Me: Another successful Aravaipa trip! |
Dad's birthday is always on Spring Break. To celebrate, we went to a James Beard Nominated restaurant in Scottsdale:
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| Happy Birthday, Dad! |
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| Kelly rockin' the van |
Then, Kelly drove (I was morale support) a large passenger van of Dad and buddies to Grand Canyon where they were going to begin their week-long hike. There's no stopping this guy! Aravaipa was his warm-up!
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| Kelly, JB, Dad, Steve, and Shelley |
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| Another dessert! |
Dad got us a night at a hotel in Flag, supposedly haunted as Kelly and I ate cheese, crackers, salami and a bottle of wine and talked, waiting any minute for our bed to levitate. It did not. So we hit the funky, hippy coffee shop in Flag, my old stomping grounds during my undergrad, and hit the road to pick up Millie!
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| Macy's! |
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| Beaver Street Brewery! |
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| Back in PHX to pick up Millie. Millie Report: She missed her auntie. |
Payson returned from his work trip and we went out wine tasting for my last night in Arizona!
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| Kelly, Payson, Me |
Another great Spring Break!
Big shout-out to Mike S. for once again giving us tips on Aravaipa that ensured we had a great trip! Thanks, Mr. S.!
P.S. Leave a note and tell me what you think!
