Butcher Jones

I was thinking about staying home to rest and play computer games today. It was too nice outside, though. I decided to go for a short drive and maybe to mosey down a trail a little ways. I went to Butcher Jones recreation area, next to Saguaro Lake. It has picnic tables and stuff like that. You have to pay to park there, so I drove through the other side, which goes up a large wash that empties into the lake. Yes, I'm cheap. I parked in the wash and headed for a trail that leaves the picnic area and follows the lake shore. Click below to open a new window with the pictures.

Saguaro_Lake_2007_01_07

The first picture is another one of those memorials you see a lot of in the desert. Somebody's pet, I guess.

The next picture shows how the trail follows the lake shore. In the next picture, the mountain to the left is Stewart Mountain. You can see the Superstition mountains in the background of the next two pictures.

In the picture of Four Peaks, the water is really that color. When the wind covers the water with ripples, the water reflects the sky. The sky is usually deep blue here, so the water looks that way, too. In order to head off the people that are going the say that the sky doesn't look deep blue in the picture, let me explain that the sky is lighter on the horizon. Such facts may not be obvious to those living in muggy, almost perpetually cloudy areas of the country.

I wandered along that trail for quite a while. I calculated that I should turn around by 3:30 in order to get back to the truck before sunset. Then I decided that I would be able to find my way back to the truck in the dark. Then at 3:40 I remembered seeing a sign that said the gate would be closed at sunset. I started to hurry back and almost right away I lost the trail. I wasn't lost. The trail was. I went in the direction I wanted to go and the trail found me again. I walked as fast as I could all the way back. Man, my legs are tired and my feet ache now.

I took the last picture on the way back. It looks so picturesque and peaceful there. I don't know if I'll hike there again, though. On the way out I passed small groups of people fishing. On the way back, each place that had had people fishing now had fresh trash scattered around. Some of it was even hung in trees. Some people are such clods. I'll stick to hiking off-trail and going places that most people don't.