Hiking in Prescott Valley

On Sunday, July 21st, in another of my never ending attempts to flee the heat of the East Valley, Pat and I decided to go hiking north of here and hopefully find cooler weather. We ended up in Prescott Valley, it is north and the weather is cooler. Problem was, at least for me, there had been a lot of rain up there the week prior and it was still hot to me and HUMID. Yes, humid, I do tend to forget how much I dislike being in humid air. My hair quickly frizzed out to three times it's normal size, all of me was one big sweatball, and although it was only in the high 70s to low 80s it was hotter than I can stand, the humidity making it almost worse than 100 degree heat. Stress on the almost, seeing as I would never hike, I barely walk more than 20 feet in the 100 degree heat. We hiked in what was a local park with many trails, it is an area known for gold mining. We saw an actual site where they were panning for gold, if that's what you call it and we met a real gold digger. Unfortunately I have no pictures of him or the gold mining site. But trust me he looked like someone who spent his days panning for gold.

  This is the sunrise as we zipped along 101 on our way out of town.

                                          Rest stop

                      Walking the trail or looking for gold?
After the hike we headed into Prescott to see if anything was going on and yes, there was plenty going on. There was an arts/craft show on the town square, not sure if a weekend goes by that there isn't an arts/craft show on the town square. They were also having a fundraiser for the families of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. We walked around a bit, had a burger, fries and shake at a local shop then headed on home. It was nice to get away from the heat and at be able to walk around outside, even if it was rainy and humid.

                        Stormy skies on the ride home

Home Phone No More

This is the end of an era for me, I am canceling the home phone number and we are going cellular. I know so many have gone this path already, but it took me some time to be able to part with my home phone number. I am the only one that really uses the home phone and I am having some separation anxiety, but it will be okay. So if you want to reach me my number is 480-282-7537 and Pat's number is 480-248-5435. I am not completely sold on the being available 24/7 like so much of today's youth, so if I don't answer well it's because I am not available at that instant. If I am having dinner or driving or in line at a store, I will not be answering, but I will return your call. Hope to hear from you soon!

For you mom

Here you go try this

Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona

As the temperatures soar past 100 degrees here in the East Valley, it was time to make a quick get away and head to an area with cooler temps. Pinetop, Arizona in the White Mountains was the destination. Pat and I left Friday after work and planned a hike in the Blue Ridge Mountains for Saturday. It took a little over 3 hours to get there on a windy mountain road, the elevation is over 6,000 feet and the temperature was perfect for me. Saturday AM it was 55 degrees when we started hiking and by the time we finished it was near 80. We hiked an 8.5 mile loop trail which wound through the pine trees of the Apache National Forest. We lost the trail at some point about halfway through and walked along a forest road that was probably a shortcut, by this time it was sunny and hot for me and I was worn out and exhausted. After the hike a stop at Red Devil Pizza for lunch then the long drive back home.

 The beautiful town of Pinetop-Lakeside

 This was the original jailhouse moved to a location in town for preservation. It also doubles as Santa's house at Christmas.

 All ready to start the hike.

 This was pretty much the view the entire hike.

 Geocache number 1, found under a pile of rocks.

 Geocache number 2, found under a pile of rocks. 

Sensing a theme here?

 Geocache number 3, was found under a pile of rocks.

 More trees

Somewhere soon after this sign we lost the trail. The trail was very hard to walk on, it had a lot of rocks and I had to walk with my head down, watching where I was stepping as I kept tripping over the rocks. Not that I would have noticed anyway. it was nice to get away if only for a day.

Sixty Years

June 13, 1953

Hiking in Prescott

Pat and I went to hike in Prescott, Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. We were up and on the road by 6AM. It is a two-hour drive to Prescott add in the requisite bathroom stops when traveling with me and we began our hike about 8:30AM. We finished the hike about 2PM, to put it mildly I was exhausted and worn out by the time we were done. Granite Mountain Trail #261 was found in another of Pat's Arizona Highway magazines. It was 8.2 miles round trip and the elevation change was 1400 feet or somewhere in that area. It was pretty much a steady climb all the way to the top, then pretty much downhill the whole way back. Needless to say I liked the way back a lot better. I almost didn't make it all the way to our destination, and truth be told there was another little bit of a climb to reach the very top, but trust me when I tell you there was no way I could make it any further up. The views were gorgeous and I really liked the Granite Mountain area, I am not sure why we have never hiked in Prescott before, but now that we have I believe we will again.

 You might have to look hard here to see it, but there is a javelina in this picture, I have never seen one in the wild before. There were two near the start of the hike and they are kind of scary. Read more about javelinas here.

 How very nice and peaceful does this look? Starting early in the morning gives us plenty of time to enjoy the quiet and solitude before all sorts of loud annoying people show up.

 Pat on one of his many stop and wait breaks. He gets a lot of them because I am always so far behind.

 Lots of these dead looking trees in the area, and I believe that mountain behind there is where we ended up hiking to the top of.

 Little cactus growing up out of the cracks in a boulder.

 Whew, I made it to the top, believe me there was serious doubt along the way whether I would or not. It took me 3 hours to get up there and according to all the guide books it is a 4 hour round trip hike. Guess I need to up my game a bit. We spent about 30 minutes sitting up here, enjoying the view, having a snack and recouping for the way back down. It was a lovely day, the weather was perfect and I can't wait to go back. HAHA I say that now because I have recouped from the pain and exhaustion of that day.

Miami - AZ that is

A couple weeks ago as the thermometer crawled near 100 degrees, Pat and I took a trip out east to explore in the Globe/Miami area where it is usually 20 degrees cooler. We are no strangers to this area, for some reason I am drawn to Miami. Check out one of our earlier trips to the area here. It is another old mining town that has seen better days. Even though they have resurrected mining in Miami, most of the town is filled with rundown and abandoned buildings. I have a photography project in mind that has me looking for interesting doors and Miami had plenty available.

 This pharmacy was for sale. A lot of buildings/businesses are for sale in Miami.

 One of my favorite doors.

 This one actually is a private residence, or so that little sign says if you could read it. Do you see Pat in the reflection?

 On the way home we stopped at Los Hermanos in Superior for dinner. This place was featured in Arizona Highways Best Restaurants 2013 edition. It is a small town tavern/restaurant popular with locals as well as tourists. The food was really good, authentic homemade Mexican food. I had Chiles Relleno, more than I could finish; Pat had a burro and cup of green chile and a large margarita. Everything is reasonably priced, I believe our bill came to sixteen dollars and we were stuffed. Definitely will stop here again when out in the area.