A scenic view

The drive out to Canyon Lake is amazingly beautiful. Of course, the drive back from the lake is, also. It's on the way back, though, that you will see a sign that has always struck me as very funny. It points to a pullout to the right and says, "Scenic View". It's hard to believe that anything could be much more scenic that what you've been looking at for the past hour or so. Maybe it is, or maybe it isn't, but it's easier to enjoy when you stop the car and get out. There's a nice view of Four Peaks. You can't see the lake from there.

There are some large hills to the northwest of the parking area. I've often wondered what the view would be like from up there but was stymied by the canyon between the parking area and the hills. It's deep and it's steep. I doubt that I could cross it. As I drove away from the house yesterday wondering where I should go, I decided that there has got to be an easy way to get to those hills, and that's what I would look for on this outing.

Just past where this road curves out of sight is a scenic view

I parked at the side of the road just a few hundred feet from the scenic view. I was at the very beginning of the chasm that has hindered me in the past, so I was able to hop across. Woohoo! There used to be a road going in the direction I wanted to go, so I just followed it for a little while and then turned up one of the hills. It was easy going, not very steep. I was on top in just a few minutes. The reward far outweighed the effort.

From the hill I could see Four Peaks and Canyon Lake.

In the other direction, the Superstition Mountains.

A slightly different view.

Yes, a cloud.

As you can probably tell from the pictures, it was getting close to sunset. Also, when I got to the top of the hill, I had accidentally pressed the "Help" button on my SPOT. I noticed it right away and turned it off, then sent an "I'm OK" message. I was worried that Suzanne and Skid would be on their way to rescue me, though. I had left my phone in the truck because I don't get a signal out there anyway. I figured that if they were on their way out there, I would get to the truck about the time that they did. I'm just glad I didn't push the "911" button. It would have been embarrassing if a helicopter had shown up as I traipsed around the top of those hills. I kind of doubt that insurance would cover accidentally pushing the wrong button.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2009_09_09