Green Swamp West - Lacoochee

The weather is getting hotter and more humid, and prime Florida backpacking time is drawing to an end. There is a missing piece of the Florida Trail through Green Swamp that I was determined to complete before it becomes too hot, so I decided to try to get it done this weekend. Looking at the maps, it appears that there may be a road access in the middle of the missing section, but after last weekends 8+ mile addition to a day hike when the "road" turned out to be locked, I decided to just throw on the backpack and hike through from 471 where Deb and I left off back in early March, to the first place I knew for sure I could get the car into at Lacoochee Clay Sink Road, camping overnight somewhere in the middle. This route would duplicate about 6 miles of last weekend's hike, but I could take more time over the pieces we had hurried, and take the loop hike along the river for the last part.

The day started off cloudy, but warm and humid. The early part of the trail is through open grasslands with sparse shade, so I was grateful for the hazy cloud cover. I startled a deer in the first couple of miles, actually it was a mutual startling, and he bounded away before I had the presence of mind to grab for the camera. Today was the first time while hiking in the Green Swamp and Richloam swamp areas that I have actually encountered other hikers on the trail. My first meeting was with a Boy Scouts of America group out for a five mile hike. We arrived together at a trail junction, and thinking these young men, unencumbered and only day hiking would be travelling at a faster pace than me weighted down with backpack and about 20 lbs of spare water I stopped for a brief drink break and let their group get ahead of me. That was a mistake, as I was soon on the heels of and practically falling over their slower members. Fairly soon I got the opportunity to put on a burst of speed to re-pass them. My next encounter was lone day-hiker who passed while I was taking my lunchbreak in a shady, breezy spot slightly off the trail.

As the day got hotter the sparse shade and high humidity was very draining, and I began to wish I was day hiking. The forest road portions of the trail were on sandy roads, and the lack of rain in this area for the past month or so made for some slow and dusty slogging through the sand.

Early afternoon the trail crossed Ranch Road. This was the road that I thought may have been accesible by car, but had decided not to risk as it was marked exactly the same way as last week's fiasco at Main Line Road. Of course, having not tried it the road was indeed accessible, and there were lots of cars on it! The really bad part was that it was HORRIBLY dusty, and I had to walk along it for about 1/4 of a mile. Every car that went past kicked up a big cloud of choking dust. Several of the more courteous drivers slowed down when they saw me, but it didn't lessen the dust much. I was very thankful when the trail headed back into the woods. The next hour or so was through a beautiful deeply shaded wood of massive mature oaks dripping with spanish moss. It was wonderful cool relief after the sparse shade and the dust. I scared up a very fast black snake that was lazing in the trial, but again the encounter was too brief for the camera.
Mid afternoon I arrived at the Foster Bridge campsite, my home for the night. As soon as I arrived I collapsed on the bench and stretched out for a cool break. The mosquitos immediately homed in. There were enough of them out in broad daylight that I realized I was going to have to get my camp all set up and dinner, etc. completed before the sun went down so I could take refuge in the tent when the bugs really came out! I set up the tent, but it was warm enough and with little enough chance it would rain that I decided to forego the rain fly tonight so I could be out of the bugs, but hopefully get some breeze relief from the humidity too. Next chore was to go down to the river to refill my water bottles and take a cool dip if possible. As I set off for the river I immediately came to another recently burnt area. The wildfires have been quite bad recently due to all the dry weather we have been having. I had walked through so many burnt out patches today I had just not noticed the burnt smell here. As I continued I noticed that the fire here had been very recent. In fact, several areas were still smoldering. My tent was now set up less than 1/10th of a mile downwind on this smoldering burnt area, and it was extermely breezy. Knowing that, I used my hiking pole to rake through smoldering patches until they were no longer smoking. Around the next corner was a fallen burnt out tree, not just smoking, but actually burning with 3 small fires. I used an unburned log I found nearby to beat at the burning areas, and my hiking pole to rake through the dropped embers until the fire was out and nothing was smoking. Eventually I made it down to river to refill my water and wash up, which was even more needed now I was black and sooty! On the return to the campsite I checked all the previously smoking areas and the burnt out tree, but there was now no sign of smoke. I seriously considered repacking my tent and moving elsewhere to camp, but the next marked campsite was a further 6 miles up the trail, and I was not sure of the non site camping restrictions here. Knowing that it was turkey hunting season made me not too keen on remote camping, and seeing as the underbrush in this area was already all burnt out I decided to stay where I was. There are so many burnt out patches in this area anyway, and I hadn't noticed this one smoking until I was almost on top of it, so it is highly likely that anywhere else I chose to camp may also have the same danger anyway.
So I set up my own small fire in the fire ring to cook dinner, and enjoyed the early evening. My assumption had been correct, and as soon as the sun droppd the bugs began to increase, so I took refuge in the tent. The wind has also died down a lot, relieving my fire fears somewhat. Not having the rain fly on increased my visibility outside too, and as it got dark I took another careful look out into the darkness for signs of flames, but there were none. I pottered around in the tent for a while then tried to settle down for the night. It was hot and sticky, and the whining sound of mosquitos was all around the tent.

Of course, a night without the rain fly is a guaranteed drought breaker, and I was awoken by the first shower a little after midnight. I scrambled for the rain fly, jumped out of the tent to attach and stake it out. The most persistent of the mosquitos who had hung around waiting for me to leave the safety of my mesh cocoon were rewarded by my few unprotected minutes outside the tent, but I was fortunate not to let any back in there with me. The rain continued lightly for a while and I must have drifted back to sleep, but was awoken at 3am by an outright downpour accompanied by lightning and thunder. It was hot and humid in the tent, but I was dry and the rain was cooling the tent down rapidly. I got inside the sleeping bag for the first time and eventually managed a couple more hours of broken sleep.
The rain had stopped by the time I got up, but everything was soaked and very muddy and it was extremely humid. The areas around trhe campsite that had looked drab, dirty and dusty yesterday were now somewhat brightened by the overnight soaking. I am fascinated at the way the palmettos recover so quickly after ebing burned and this morning is no different. I had noticed the new green growth yesterday, but this morning it seems liker all the re-growing plants had sprouted the green beginnings of flowerheads. Maybe they had been there before and I just had not noticed. The contrast between burnt black, rust brown damage, and vibrant was beautiful. Anyway, I couldn't resist a few pictures.

I soon reached and crossed Main Line Road, and was now hiking the same area we hiked last weekend. Today however, it is still early, and I have time to enjoy the views and take short breaks on the buffs above the Withlacoochee. On one such break I took off my shoes to dangle my feet in the river and find a tick that has embedded itself in my toe! Nice!
Another break was at a small rapid on the river. There was a Cypress growing against the bank with all its roots and knees exposed and hanging out over the river. I climbed out onto the exposed roots and sat 15 feet above the rapid watching the water flowing underneath me. A much nicer experience than the tick removal.

Despite the rain last night the swamp areas are still very dry, thought there seems to be much more grass than last week. It is above knee high in a lot of places, and I do not remember that from last week, though it seems like it couldn't have grown that high just since last night! There is one little stream crossing on this stretch, and surprisingly the water level actually seems lower this morning.

My final stops for today are along the river loop trail. I'm not sure which river this is, it didn't seem to have enough flow to be the Withlacoochee, but more likely a feeder. The swamp area around the river was a vibrant mas off green grass carpeting around the Cypress trees. The river was serene and clear and seemed to have a good amount of flow. I could hear children's voices and expected to see a canoe appear at any time, but never saw the actual source of the noise, nor anyone for that matter.

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The Fool's Hike

Just judging by the date, we should have known this was going to be one of those days.

First off, it was only supposed to be a short 7 - 8 mile walk, so I'd scoped out a road on the map that crossed the trail so we could shuttle a car to each end for an easy day. Unfortunately, when we turned onto the road in question, it had a locked gate across it! Ooops. Undaunted, we figured we could add the 4 - 5 miles to where I estimated the trail crossed the road, making the hike 12 - 13 miles, and still only take an extra couple of hours. So off we set....

30 minutes or so later when we saw a truck driving the road we're walking, curious, I waved and asked him if it was possible to drive the road instead of walking. Apparently you have to be a hunter with a padlock on the gate. Oh, and by the way, today is the first day of Turkey Hunting Season. Hmmm. how did I miss that one? Still, we decide to continue on, my backpack isn't blaze orange, but it is bright yellow, and we're going to be on the main road for some time anyway, the hunters are likely all off in the woods. So on we walk....

...and walk. You see, I thought we were going to be in the car driving down the road, and figured we'd see the place where the trail crossed the road fairly easily, and park nearby and set off with no problems. So I didn't measure or mark the actual loaction of the trail crossing very accurately on my map. All I vaguely remembered was 4 or 5 miles. After walking 6 miles I began to doubt myself. I hadn't seen any sign of the crossing, and surely we'd gone way too far by now. Perhaps it was the last trail that went off to the north, despite us having not seen the southbound trail, or an orange blaze in sight!

So we doubled back, set off on the trail to the north, and still no blazes in sight. I checked the map, The trail we were on looped northwest for a couple of miles, then back to Main Line Road. Surely it must cross the Florida Trail, and if not, when we get back to Main Line, we can just walk back to the car. We continued. We looked for potential trail crossings and orange blazes. We stopped to eat lunch (Did I mention I forgot my lunch? Thanks Olga for bringing extra). We crossed several sand roads, but nothing that is blazed. We even got into quite an indepth discussion about why some roads and trails are marked on the maps and some are not. We don't see anything orange.

Eventually we arrive back at Main Line Road, and still no sign of the trail! Hearing a train whistle, we stop for a break and take some GPS and map readings. We're now 7 1/2 miles from the car, but only 3 or 4 miles from Lacoochee and highway 301 in the same direction we're travelling. We have hiked 10 miles and not yet seen a sign of the Withlacoochee, or anything even close to the scenic walk we were expecting. We're hot, and more than halfway through our water. There was not a drop of water on the road walk in. The thought of a long break by the river (now only 1/2 mile away) and the chance to replenish water and a 4 mile walk out to the road is very tempting. So Plan B is hatched. We will continue on Main Line Road to US301 and call for a ride back to the cars.

Ever been following a road that you originally thought was a road, and turn a corner to where it crosses the river only to find that someone stole the bridge? No? Believe me, not a great sight when you're now 8 miles from the car, and salvation was a mere 3 or so away! The water level is currently very low. It was quite a challenge to find a spot where I could dangle over the water where it was deep enough to fill water bottles without stirring up the bottom sediment too much. Finally, when I found a suitable spot, the thought of crossing the low water obviously crossed my mind. And I tried. The water was indeed not too deep, and I probably could have got myself across, but the mud close under the shallow water was quite deep, and eventually I was persuaded to return to my companions on the bank. I think if I'd been alone I'd have just repacked the contents of my daypack safely into my garbage bag and swum across.

Decision reached, we begin the 8 mile trudge back to the car. We expect it to be hot, the old railroad grade provides little shade, and it's sandy and dry.

Of course, as we pass the sand road where we had returned to Main Line Road from our loop to the north, there, less than a couple of tenths of a mile, on either side of the road are the wonderfully obvious orange blazes marking the point where the Florida Trail crosses main line road. We had turned back exactly 1/2 mile too soon, but we're still confused how we could have looped around, and across this trail without seeing it!

So, now we are on Plan C, which is actually Plan A. The distance to either car is approximately the same, but the trail has shade, access to the river, etc. The road, while probably providing better footing and a more direct route is the less preferred route.

Once we actually got on the trail the hike was pleasant. We found the point where the trail had crossed our little side loop. We hadn't seen either the trail or the blazes because we were deep in conversation about why some dirt roads were on the maps and GPS and some were not. I guess we should have looked up occasionally! The newly discovered trail was nicely shaded, and very scenic in places. We reached the bluffs above the Withlacoochee River very quickly, but unfortunately we had all reached the "just walk" stage, and didn't get to enjoy it as much as we should have. We did stop for a short break on the river bank and dunked our feet for a while to cool off. I took the camera out only for this initial stop in the high river bluffs, but after the break we all just concentrated on hiking back to the car.

We finally reached the car at Ricloam Fire Tower around 6pm. Our total mileage was 17.4 miles. Hopefully Dick and Olga will still talk to me tomorrow!

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Green Swamp East

This is an impromptu day hike, and I'm joined by frind Deb who is staying a couple of days. She's not usually a hiker, but has agreed to come out for a short walk, so I Looked up the closest trail section of about 10 miles with a parking lot at each end. We shuttled a car to the SR471 parking lot and set out from the Green Swamp East trailhead.

The trail was a mixture of Cypress swamp, oak and pine forest, and crossed the Withlacoochee river several times. There were several sections of forest road walks. The weather was clear with a light breeze, and temps in the 80's. A couple of places were a little too sun exposed in the middle of the day, but for the most part the trail was nicely shaded.

After abot 3 miles we came across some trail signage where a loop trail joined the main trail. It listed the mileage for the thru trail as 10.8 miles. Exactly whatI had planned for the day, except we'd already walked almost 3 - ooops! We discussed just taking the loop trail then doubling back to the car, but Deb decided she was up to the full, now 14 mile hike, so we continued on, but just agreed to slow the pace a little and take a couple of nice long breaks in the shade as the heat increased.

We passed through several areas that had recently burned, but the new green regrowth of grass and Palmetto shows how quickly the forest begins to recover. We ended up taking several short water and snack breaks and two long lay down - shoes off breaks, including an hour long lunch and nap break. We ran short of water in the afternoon, so stopped at a flowing creek to collect and treat water. I actually managed to catch a small fish in my water bottle. I can't even imagine I'd have been able to do that if I'd been trying to catch a fish! We rescued him from the bottle before adding the iodine. I don't think Deb fancied having him swimming around in her water bottle anyway!

Late in the afternoon we crossed the Withlacoochee River once again at a road bridge. The worst of the day's heat had already passed, but the water still looked cool and inviting. We investigated the river bottom and found it was cool soft moss and firm sand, with no slimy mud. We could not resist the opportunity to strip down and enjoy a refreshing soak. We both wished we had been here for our lunchtime nap, but it was a great rest stop any time of day.
At the end of the day, after a wonderful day's hiking, albeit about 4 miles longer than expected, we reached the road, and the southbound register. We flipped open the lid, and found squatters have moved themselves into this nice cosy steel home!

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Hog Island

So my idea of a contiguous NOBO section hike obviously isn’t going to work. Having completed the first 7 or so miles of Big Cypress, the next section is a 3 day backpack trip with no accessible roads to split it up. I could take the time off an do it over a long weekend, but I can’t find anyone to go with me. The Rangers at Big Cypress are strongly advising against going solo. So to continue with my Florida Trail section hike I’ve picked out a couple of day/weekend segments close to home. I’ll just have to wait to finish Big Cypress. This weekend I’m hiking again with Mindy, who came on the Loop Road hike.

We started out the day at Hog Island campground, where we secured a camp site for the night, and left one vehicle, then drove to At River Junction where we left the second vehicle. After a brief false start we realized we had not actually seen an orange blaze since we left the car, and we doubled back and took the correct left turn (the one on the left!), actually headed down the correct sand road to River Junction and the start of the Croom Trail.

From the trailhead the trail skirts several small Cypress swamps. We really enjoyed the clear still water, with the sunshine flooding through the new spring green of the trees. Eventually the trail wound its way to the Withlacoochee River, back to the swamps, and then oak forest.

We saw plenty of wildlife throughout the day, from deer in the campgrounds, to birds, butterflies, a very fast black snake, and the little turtle. The butterfly would only allow me within a couple of feet, then would fly about 20 feet down the trail, let me within a couple of feet and fly 20 feet further. This went on for long enough that we thought it was hiking the trail with us! Eventually he flew off into the forest without us.

The last 1/4 mile of or so of the trail was through a pine forest, and we were home at our campsite for the night, complete with a campfire and steak dinner.

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Southern Arizona Trip

First stop for the trip was at Watson Hot Well just outside Thatcher, AZ. The well is on BLM land with free camping. The tub was empty when I arrived late afternoon, but soon filled with nice warm water. It was a cloudy day, and I had travelled through some cold drizzly rain earlier in the day, but the sky cleared off around sunset.

Chiricahua National Monument
Chiricahua is an area of volcanic rock that was uplifted causing vertical colmnar fragmentation. Erosion of the softer layers has caused unique reshaping of the columns. Some of the columns have eroded to the extent that big rock is left balancing on the top of the column, and some of the erosion gives the impression of facial or animal features. The raised rock area is known as a "Sky Island". There is no water around to make it a true island, but is sits out as a standalone mountain in the sea of surrounding desert. At a couple of places on the Heart of Rocks trail the surrounding desert was a vivid yellow and red flat contrast to the rocks and blue sky.

At the end of the day's hiking I wandered around Masai Point in the very windy cold for the sunset. It was so cold that the batteries in my camera registered as dead, a new set lasted only a couple of photos before also showing as empty. I was judicious with the camera, keeping it warm inside my jacket between photos and managed to squeeze off a few last shots.

Saguaro National Park is a Sonoran Desert landscape dominated by the uniquely recognizable Saguaro cactus.

Picacho
Final stop for this trip is a Hohokam petroglyph site not far from Picacho Peak State Park. The Petroglyphs are scattered over a large heap of boulders which involved scrambling around and over the rocks to get to the pictures. It was a very pleasant afternoon, and after climbing around a while I just found a comfortable rock to plant myself on and enjoy the late afternoon sunshine.

After enjoying the sunshine for a while I packed up the car and drove back to Phoenix, with one last stop for a picture of the moonrise over the Saguaros.

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Starting at the Beginning

I started off with this idea that I wanted to hike the entire trail, albeit in sections, contiguously from South to North. However, the trail starts with one of the most remote sections, Big Cypress National Preserve. I had read in the Florida Trail literature, and other trip journals that the lower swamp sections are strenuous, and should not be attempted alone. The water level in the swamp is currently quite high from Hurricane Wilma’s passage over south Florida late last fall. As luck would have it, I stumbled across a group that annually hikes the Loop Rd to Oasis Visitor Center segment. I contacted them and they agreed to let me join them. At the last minute, Mindi, a recent acquaintance from an online Women's hiking group decided to join me too. We drove down to the meeting point at the Oasis Visitor center in the middle of the night. The highlight of our drive was on SR 29, shortly after exiting Interstate 75. Passing through the Florida Panther refuge area, we saw a panther on the side of the highway. An exciting first for both of us. It would have been nice if I had had the presence of mind to stop or double back to attempt a photo!

We arrived at Oasis visitor center at around 5:30am and settled down for a power nap. I managed an hour or so of sleep before birdsong and the sounds of the occupant of a nearby vehicle woke me. We boiled some water for coffee and oatmeal breakfast, then stopped by the gator pond to enjoy our morning coffee before the group assembled at 8:30ish.

At 9am we stopped by the visitor center, arranged for the permit, checked with the Ranger for current trail conditions, and watched the 15 minute video about the ecology of the Preserve. The Ranger advised that the trail was rough, and mostly under mud and likely knee high water. He warned about the large numbers of Cottonmouth snakes, but thought we should get through OK. We shuttled in one van about 13 miles by road to the trailhead where we were joined by the remainder of the group. We saw 3 gators and a deer on the lime road, the only wildlife we saw all day. In all there were eleven in the hiking group, Mindi and myself being the only women.

It was around 10:30 when we set off on the trail. The weather was great for hiking, warm enough to be comfortable with a minimum of clothes, but not hot, and with a gentle breeze. The cypress trees have no foliage at this time of year, and the bromeliads and other plants have just started to flower. The predominant colors are silver grey, with a lightly overcast blue sky. The trail for most of its length is potholed limestone base covered by varying depths of dark, slippery mud and puddles.

Within 20 feet the trail is muddy, and wet, and water was already over the tops of my shoes giving me wet feet. A previous swamp backpack trip 2 weeks ago had left me with large blisters on my left heel and toe. Neither were bothering me now, but I was a little concerned that with the immediate wet that I may be in for a recurrence of either, both, or more.

The three first mile of the hike is through a cypress grove and grassy prairie. There is little shade, and the sky cleared somewhat in the warmest part of the day, but was still pleasant. We saw bobcat and raccoon tracks, a variety of birds, signs of deer remains (presumably some cat's feast), and cypress trees that were obviously "cat scratch" posts, but no other wildlife. We intended to stop for lunch at Frog Hammock Camp (a "hammock" is a slightly elevated and therefore often drier island in the swamp) but it was already occupied when we arrived, so we continued on.

The trail at this 3 - 4 mile section becomes much more swamplike. Elevation changes of only a few feet make swampy pools of slowly moving water among slightly raised areas of brush, vines, ferns, and other undergrowth. There is much more green and brown. A compost like base to the trail means less mud and limestone directly underfoot, but to get to these raised areas the trail passes through the swamp pools. The water here covers the same several inches of mud over limestone, and was mainly around knee high. The water was clear for those lucky enough to traverse first. For those in the rear the slowly swirling mud obscured the potholes, cypress knees, fallen logs, roots, etc. A hiking pole is definitely an advantage here for probing ahead to gauge footing and depth, and for stability when a pothole, root, knee, stump, other unseen hazard, or just plain old mud causes imbalance. On the raised hammocks the water is no longer an issue, but the dense undergrowth means bushwhacking though vines, palmetto scrub, under and over fallen trees, limbs, etc.

This mile or so of trail has been heavily affected by Hurricane Wilma last fall. Many of the trees that have the trail marking orange blazes have fallen. Many more trees are down across the trail, and the undergrowth is thick and thorn covered. We frequently could not see the next orange marker and could not discern which direction the trail continued. At these places several of the front hikers would fan out looking for blazed trees, while the remainder waited back at the last known blaze. When someone discovered the next marker we would all attempt to follow their course, and seek out the next blaze.

It was only a fairly short stretch where this was a concern, but bushwacking hiking like this is tedious and time consuming. We had not yet even had lunch, and for a short period there was some discussion of maybe retracing our steps to return back the way we had come. Eventually though, we stumbled our way from blaze to blaze and somewhere around mile 4 got back to a fairly straight, though submerged trail that could be easily followed. Here, in a slightly raised area with not too much brush we stopped for lunch. There was no real dry ground. Some settled on a log or stump, but most (including me) just stood to eat.

The trail here turned to a channel of knee high water over the mud, limestone potholes, cypress roots and knees. There was little underbrush allowing a faster, though splashier pace. As we set off, someone noticed that we had shared our lunch spot with a snake. I was already several yards down the trail, and did not go back to see it, but those that did said it was a Cottonmouth. It was less than 2 feet from where one of the party had just rested for 20 minutes eating lunch, and not one of us had seen it!

The submerged trail continued as this slosh through muddy water. The mud underfoot was ever present, with the potholes, cypress knees, logs, etc., providing frequent obstacles. One step the water may be only 6 inches deep, the next maybe up to the knees. After about 1/2 mile the land elevated slightly and the terrain turned back to the cypress prairie that we had encountered for the first several miles. Most of the deep water disappeared, but the mud here was deeper than the start of the hike. Maybe it was just perception as now my legs were getting tired, and my shoes were now filled with and encased in several pounds of mud, but the mud seemed slippier too. The deepest, slippiest sections caused a vacuum to be created within my shoes at each step. This meant curling my toes to release the inner shoe vacuum. My feet were already kind of busy trying to move forward, stay gripped on the trail, lift pounds of slimy mud, avoid potholes, and attempt to keep my legs and body in a vertical position. Now I was asking them to curl up to de-suction too. They weren't very happy with me! Once again I was grateful for the hiking pole, which prevented me falling several times.

During this muddy mile, while concentrating almost exclusively on where feet were being placed we came across two more Cottonmouths lying right next to the trail. Seeing three in such a short distance made me wonder how many we hadn't seen!

The final mile or so of trail was less prairie and more Cypress trees. The trail was still as muddy, and the trudging through it slow. Finally, at the 7 mile mark the road and Oasis visitor center are visible through the leafless cypress trees. Just another 1/4 mile, and a couple of large mud holes (which were mercifully mainly dry) we were back on dry pavement at Oasis. The visitor center has an outdoor faucet, which was put to use de-mudding and shoe washing, and bathrooms, where I washed and combed up and tried to look human again. As hard as the hike had seemed on my feet they were totally blister free, and actually didn't feel at all bad once happy again in clean dry socks. I have decided to attribute my problems two weeks ago to wearing a different brand of sock, which must have compressed too much when wet and allowed my left foot to slide within the shoe. I'll stick to my wool socks and synthetic liner in future. We headed for home, stopping for a "greasy McBurger" on the way home. We had definitely worked off any additional calories and fat it might cause.

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Central Arizona Hiking

After arriving in Phoenix, and experiencing the thin, dry air for just one evening we decided I would need a couple of days to acclimatize to the elevation before tackling any major ascents. So we headed for Deer Creek which is a fairly steep hike down into the creek, adjustable length along the creek, then back up at a puffing and blowing hike back up. It was a cool afternoon along the mainly shaded, remote valley.

We made it back to the truck, hot and exerted despite the cool evening, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset drive back out. Not being used to remote, unpaved forest roads, and having seen the evidence of a really old car that never made it back down, and is now holding up part of the road, I was glad to make it back to the highway just at dark.

Once I felt I was adjusted we headed out to the Sierra Ancha area which has many cliff dwellings. It is accessed along Cherry Creek Road (FR203), an unpaved forest road which starts out fairly wide and with a good packed surface, but after fording several creeks becomes rather rocky in places. In several spots there were very large boulders washed onto the road which we had to negotiate around, too close to the edge of the prepipice for my liking, but obviously not too much for an experienced 4 wheel off road driver! We decided to tackle Pueblo Canyon as the main hike, and maybe tackle Cooper Canyon as a second hike if we felt up to it. At Devils Chasm we were almost stopped by the steeply washed out creek, but again, 4 wheel drive experience prevailed and we made it to the trailhead without incident.

Next morning, clear blue sky, not too hot, not too cold. We set of hiking, headed straight UP for the first mile. After almost an hour we reach the Marker rock with it's spiral petroglyph, then, climbing higher, the next section is along the edge of the outcrop, through gnarly old Manzanita growth. These hard, and brittle shrubs are pretty, with their brilliant red new growth and silver old stock, but they snag on and scratch at everything. I'm very glad for the advice to wear long sleeves, heavy pants and work gloves! As we scramble through the manzanita and around the end of the outcrop we change direction. A last brief glimpse back down into Cherry Creek shows our campsite.

Now we are into Pueblo Canyon and we see the first view of the outermost structures at almost the same elevation as our current position. The trail turns more to mixed deciduous trees, which was quite unexpected and adds some beautiful fall colour. We still have some up and down scrambling through the ravines to accomplish, but will basically be level hiking from here. The Canyon is beautiful. The combined colours of yellow lichen covered rock (below left) and green, red, and yellow trees (below right) is beautiful and serene.

We emerge from a tree filled ravine and suddenly the main cliff dwellings are directly in full view in front of us. It is an incredible sight. There is a convenient rock ledge here with the perfect view across the canyon to the cliff dwellings. It's an incredible place to rest, snack, rehydrate, and enjoy this remote and wonderful place. After a short while we continued on into the canyon, and soon came to the first structures. There is an old mine here, whose tailings have apparently filled and buried some of the old dwellings. One room is still exposed, along with some fallen walls. Continuing on to the end of the canyon the trail skirts around the back of a waterfall. There was a small amount of water flowing, and the trail is a little slippery and exposed, requiring careful footing for about 10 - 15 feet behind.

The final assault is about one tenth of a mile of scamble through scrubby brush and loose soil underfoot. There were a couple of steepish loose areas, but nothing too much to be concerned about. The end result is WELL WORTH IT! The hours passed quickly poking around the cliff dwellings and too soon it was time to head back. We descended much faster than the trip in, mainly with the goal of getting back to camp in daylight. The lower light and cooler temperatures made for a pleasant and uneventful hike back. Of course, we took time to stop at the overlook for a rest break and enjoy a last look at the cliff dwellings in the softer late afternoon light.

After a lazy recovery day in the Sierra Ancha camp we returned to Phoenix to resupply and set out almost immediately for another trip, this time to the north. First stop was Sedona. It is beautiful, but in a totally different way to the wilderness we had experienced for the early part of the week. We did the tourist potter around the town, but I confess I was not quite ready for civilization yet!
So we enjoyed the statiary, a meal we didn't have to cook ourselves, and set out on for the scenic drive up Oak Creek. The trailheads were all packed with cars, and this was a week day, not in the height of the season! Not keen on hiking with the masses we continued up Oak Creek and enjoyed the overlook.

At the top we made the decision to skip Flagstaff and points north and head for the Mogollon rim and return to solitude. OK, so there was the little controlled burn we had to drive through to get there, the collecting firewood and setting up camp in the dark, oh yeah, and it was kind of chilly! But the Mogollon Rim was beautiful and very remote.

BUT......The sunrise definitely made the cold windy night worthwhile. We spent the day rock hopping along the rim. Lots of up and down and some loose footing and lots of thorny scrub, which we mostly tried to avoid, but the views from the rim were extensive. As this was just a lazy, hike as much or as little as we please day I took the time to take flower, burned out stump pictures as much as the views. This area has been extensively damaged by beetle blight and fire. It made for some interesting pictures (at least I thought so), and there were also some signs that the area could recover if the climate is right.

......and then the sun started to set. All thoughts of an early dinner in daylight were abandonned while we just watched the valley blaze with yellows and finally into gold. So we ended up cooking and eating in the dark again. The sky cleared off after the sunset and we watched stars above and the lights of Payson below,sitting by a blazing hot fire until very late.

Nature was not intending for us to have wonderful weather for the whole trip though!
There was to be one more display for us before we returned to civilization. We woke in the clouds to a mysterious low rumbling which we debated as planes, ground vehicles, mining or construction,....or maybe thunder. A brief lightening of the sky and simultaneous drop of the wind and suddenly we were enveloped by a lightning, thunder, and SNOW! Needless to say, we packed up camp very quickly, jumped into the truck and headed out of the now two inches of snow back to civilization.

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