Silver Creek

I set out Sunday to get the last photo point pictures of the group on which I'm currently working. It was just two photo points on Silver Creek. I saved them until last because it takes a 3 mile hike to get to one of them (and back) and I would be making that hike in the heat of the day. It turned out to actually be about a 3.5 mile hike.

Fortunately, there was lots of shade.

I started the hike around noon, and I think the temperature was around 100. It's still the wet season, too, so it was a little muggy. The entire hike was in the bed of Silver Creek, which was mostly dry. It had rained recently, though, so the sand was packed pretty good. Made walking a little easier. I walked lightly so as not to break through the sand because that just saps your energy, but so does walking lightly.

These flowers were all over the place. I haven't looked them up in my plant book yet, though.

Shortly after starting the hike, I stepped on what looked like "solid" sand but sank about 3 or 4 inches with no resistance. At first I thought of quicksand, but it wasn't quite like quicksand I've been in before. The surface was too loose and it was easy to pull my foot out. I didn't want to test it any further, though. I stepped in stuff like that a few times, which kept my boots wet.

Bear tracks.

More bear tracks.

I came across bear tracks about half a mile into the hike. Amazingly, I happened to have effective bear protection with me. It would be a last resort, though. I would really have liked to get some pictures of a bear, but I made lots of noise for the rest of the hike. I heard noise in the distance every now and then that might have been a bear or a deer moving away. I saw tracks of both but never the animals.

I was looking for a fence that marks the location of the photo point. I went past the coordinates given on my treasure map, then past the National Forest boundary shown on my GPS receiver map before I found a fence. About all of it that was still standing was the gate.

Found it.

I got the pictures and relaxed for a little while before heading back. It was hot. Really hot. I drank over 2 liters of water in 3 hours. You've got to eat something when you drink (and sweat) that much or your electrolytes get wacky. Amazingly, I was not out of snacks. Having everything I needed made for a pleasant hike despite the heat. I should be prepared more often.

When I got back to the truck I decided to drive up to Bishop Creek. I had been looking at pictures the night before and it looked like I had missed a photo point there. It had rained a few times since the last time I was out there. The road was in much worse shape. It seemed steeper, rougher, more rutted, and there were a few mud holes. I was almost to the creek when I came to a bad spot in the road that I didn't remember at all. One side had a 2 foot drop and the other was tilted at a severe angle. I couldn't drive over the drop and the tilted side looked scary. I decided to go back up the road a few feet where it was wide enough for me to park and hike to the creek. I was on what seemed to be almost level sand. I could barely back up. When I got to solid ground, the back tires kept sliding into ruts that I could not get out of. It looked like there might be enough room to turn around and hit the solid ground going forward, but when I turned the wheel the truck would not move. It just dug in. I was getting ready to push the "I'm OK but I'm stuck" button on my SPOT and hope that Skid would see it and come to my rescue. I decided to try going over the tilted part of the road first, though. If I'm going to be stuck, I might as well be really stuck. It was exciting but all of the tires stayed on the road. Now I was on another mostly level sandy spot. I had backed into a parking spot there before. I tried it again. I could not back up. I was upset. There was a one foot drop in front of me to Bishop Creek with lots of room to turn around, if I didn't get stuck in the sand there. There was also a slight slope to the creek to my left, so I went that way and made it down without bottoming out. I kept moving as fast as I could, afraid I would sink if I slowed down. I got turned around and aimed for my exit from the creek bed. It was bumpy but no problem. I kept my speed as high as I could and aimed for the precariously tilted road. It was bumpy but I made it up easily. I aimed for the only path ahead that wouldn't have my tires stuck in a rut and was going as fast as I dared. I made it up that and slacked off since I was on previously traveled road. My heart was pounding. I parked in the wide spot and was gathering my gear to get the missing pictures when I remembered that I had miss-numbered some photo points on my GPS receiver. Number 5 was not missing. I remembered seeing the windmill there in my pictures. Wow, all this for nothing. I backed back onto the road, put it in drive, and the tires spun. I began to wonder if there were gravel fairies throwing marbles under my tires. I locked the axle and slowly accelerated. Once I was moving, I didn't want to slow down again. That's when I accidentally veered off on where the road used to go. I hoped the "road" I was on would join up with the main road soon, but I didn't get far before I had to back slowly to the main road again. I put it in drive and the tires spun. I backed up a couple more feet and was able to get moving forward. The rest of the drive up that slope was made just slow enough to keep from bottoming the suspension. All this made me think seriously about getting a 4wd truck. The problem with getting a new truck is that I wouldn't want to take it on roads like that because branches might scratch the paint. Still, worrying about paint is probably better than wondering if I could possibly get home in time to go to work the next day. I don't like staying up past my bed time or skipping dinner.

I had been looking at a terrain map of that area a few weeks ago and noticed that there was a huge valley just east of where I had been taking pictures. I drove out there to take a look. It was spectacular. Or maybe it just looked spectacular because I wasn't stuck in Bishop Creek.

A little bit of the view. Four Peaks is on the horizon.

The view looking east. The Verde River is down there.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2012_08_26

Bishop Creek treasure hunt

It was looking like it wasn't going to cool off enough for me to get some photo point pictures, so I decided to try something different. I went early. I left the house around 6, but it takes a long time to get all the way out there. The photo points I was going after were on a little-traveled road (my tracks were the only tracks on it) that was very rough, so it was slow going the last couple of miles.

A funny looking cloud on the way out there. This was taken on Bloody Basin Road, which is in very good condition.

The rough road was at an elevation of almost 5000 feet and I went through some pine and juniper forests. It was just 84 degrees in the shade. The places I took pictures was much sunnier and warmer, though.

At the first place I stopped to take pictures, I decided to back the truck off the road. I know, why bother when mine are the only tracks out there. Well, experience has taught me that the quickest way to find other people out in the middle of nowhere when you haven't seen anybody for hours is to block the road. You will immediately find people and they will be in a big hurry to get somewhere. Anyway, I was on a slight incline. Barely enough to think about. I started backing up and the tires started spinning. I went forward a little and the tires spun. I tried to go back and the tires spun. It was ridiculous. I couldn't go forward or backward. I did manage to rock the truck a little and it backed off the road. I took the pictures and drove back up the incline without any trouble.

I couldn't see the road to the next place I needed to go. That's because it crossed Bishop Creek and nobody had been on it since the last time the creek flowed, which looked like it was weeks ago. Even if I had known where the road was, I wouldn't have driven on it. Lots of soft sand. I did know where it was when I hiked to the photo point. It was only about a quarter of a mile away. The temperature wasn't too bad. It might have even been comfortable if you could stay out of the sun. Except for one thing.

Actually, lots of things. Not gnats this time, but flies. Small, striped flies. They were noisy and kept buzzing around my head and landing on my hands. One eerily quiet one kept landing in the center of my sunglasses. They didn't bite or sting or anything like that. They just drove me nuts. I know, it's a short drive. I should have put my gnat net on. I did spray insect repellent on my ears and hands and arms. Didn't seem to have much effect.

The road to the second photo point. Not much shade.

I had to drive past the place where I almost got stuck to get to the third photo point. The sticky spot isn't very steep, but it's like it's covered in marbles. As I drove up in on my way out, I kept having to back up a little and try again. Took a while.

I didn't make it to a couple of photo points for a couple of reasons. One of them requires a half mile hike in a creek bed. I'm not going to try that in the middle of a sunny day. Also, there were some potential storm clouds starting to form. That area would be a bad place to be if it started raining. If I didn't get trapped by flowing creeks, I probably wouldn't have enough traction to drive on muddy roads. I had enough food and water to spend the night but Sweetums would have been worried, especially since a hiker younger than me just died in the Superstition Wilderness. I was thinking I might get some good cloud pictures, but they didn't get very big before I left.

I've been playing around with making clouds really stand out in pictures. It looks interesting but if you use these pictures as desktops, they get annoying after a while.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2012_07_07

Back to doing treasure hunts

I got back into doing Photo Point photography again on Saturday. The ones that I'm working on now are in a part of Tonto National Forest that I've never visited before. Well, I probably haven't visited most of it. It's huge. Anyway, I was near the Agua Fria National Monument, along Bloody Basin Road.

I think this used to be a ranger station.

It wasn't an extremely hot day to begin with, and I was at about 4000 feet, so it was only about 95. The breeze felt really nice, except I spent most of my time down amongst trees that blocked the breeze. It was a nice day to be wandering around the desert. The gnats weren't too bad out there, either.

I didn't realize how dependent I was on saguaros until I looked at these pictures. How the heck can I tell if they're straight? There's nothing out there that can be counted on to be horizontal or vertical. Well, then, I guess it doesn't matter.

I didn't have to do much walking around until I got to the last set of pictures to be taken. The road leading to the area was in bad shape and I didn't want to get stuck out there. I parked and walked about half a mile. By then the sun was low enough that it wasn't a real problem.

As usual, I got started on the way out there kinda late. That turned out to be a good thing since I forgot to put sunscreen on. I only got about a third of the pictures I thought I would be able to get in one day, so I'll be out there again soon. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2012_06_03

Park Creek and Reno Creek photo points

I've been having a little trouble making blog updates lately. I've been distracted by an irresistibly cute 2-year-old. If she wants to play, I can't say no.

I knocked off two sets of photo points on Sunday. It's the ones that I didn't do a few weeks ago because I had forgotten to take the notebook with me. Park Creek was very easy. Just two photo points, not very far apart, and it didn't take me long to find them. I had looked at the location of the Reno Creek photo points in Google Earth and based on that and the reference photos, I thought it would be even easier than Park Creek. Silly me. I should know better than to think that.

It was easy to find the general area of the Reno Creek photo points, and they are all pretty close together. Two things threw me off, though. First, the reference photos had been taken after a fire that had cleared out a lot of vegetation. The plants have made a roaring comeback and visibility was severely shortened since 2006. Second, the hand-drawn map of the area doesn't quite match what is there. Maybe there are minor errors, or maybe the fence has been moved around a little. Anyway, I couldn't get to where I thought the first photo point should be. I finally decided to see if my phone had a signal and I had a 3G signal, so I opened up Google Earth and went to my location. I wasn't where I thought I was. No big surprise. I walked to where I thought I should be and then I was further from where I was supposed to be. Wow, it sure was handy having Google Earth with me as I wandered around. I decided to walk the perimeter of the fenced area and try to match the track on my PN-40 to the drawing in the notebook. The shape I got was sort of a mirror image of what was drawn. I think that was what caused a lot of my confusion. Now I was able to go directly to the first photo point. Well, almost. There are several very large sycamore trees out there. One of them had fallen on the first photo point. I got as close as I could to the correct spot. A tree in the reference photo that convinced me I was in the right spot is almost hidden now because of all the new growth out there.

After getting myself oriented and getting the first picture, I relaxed and sat down to have a snack. Remember when I was at another photo point location a few weeks ago and there were lots of birds and I knew there were some woodpeckers but all I saw of them was quick streaks as they flitted back and forth? Well, anyway, they were at Reno Creek, too. While I was eating, one landed on a narrow branch almost directly overhead and stayed there long enough for me to get a picture.

A Gilded Flicker, directly overhead. I'm glad there weren't any clouds up there or I wouldn't have gotten a decent exposure before it flew off.

The rest of the photo points went smoothly (except for the occasional fallen tree blocking a view). When I had been looking at maps before I went out there, I had seen that there was something called "Camp Reno" near there. Turns out there's a sign marking the general area. I decided to see if there were any ruins.

Camp Reno, occupied from 1868 to 1870.

As I was walking to the truck to leave the notebook there, I came across a couple of guys that asked me if I knew where Camp Reno was. I explained that I was just going to look for it. One of them shook his head and said, "Good luck". I guess they had been looking for it for a while themselves. Anyway, I was heading into the woods (it was kind of woodsy) when they drove by on their way out. They asked if I needed some water or a snack before they left. That was very kind of them. I told them thanks, but I have plenty. Afterwards, I got to thinking that their offer was just a little odd. If somebody was hungry or thirsty, they wouldn't be wandering off into the desert in search of a long-abandoned camp, would they? I thought a little more and realized that isn't the first time something like that has happened. On a couple of occasions, I've come across other people who looked concerned and asked if I was OK and if I needed anything. I wonder if it's the grey hair or if I just look much worse than I feel when I'm hiking. I'll have to try to get some pictures.

I didn't see any structures, or anyplace that looked like there used to be structures. There is an "Old Fort Reno" marker on the PN-40, so I stood in that exact spot and took a 360 degree panorama. Maybe you can find something in the picture. I couldn't.

Old Fort Reno. Well, its location.

Most of the 300 or so pictures I took that day went into the photo point pictures. Click below to see the rest.

2011_10_30

Campaign Creek, part 2. And Bigfoot.

I went out to Campaign Creek again yesterday, to finish the photo point pictures. I saw more beautiful scenery. This time I made sure I had snacks in my backpack.

The view along the road.

Remember that steep hill that I was afraid to drive down last time? Well, when I was walking up and down it last time, I decided that it didn't look too steep. This time, I drove down it. That saved me a lot of walking, which was good since I was there in the middle of the day and it's still a little warm. Turns out that hill is called Skydive Hill.

Whenever I've looked at maps of that area, I've noticed something called "Reevis Mountain School" on the maps. I thought it must be an old one-room schoolhouse that had been in use many many years ago. Well, the road ends near there. Turns out it isn't an old schoolhouse after all.

The sign on the right was my first clue that the Reevis Mountain School is not what I thought it was.

It looked like nobody had been in the parking area (which was just a loop at the end of the road) for a while, so I left the truck windows open and took only my camera and GPS with me. I walked to the end of the road that continues past the parking area. The road goes to Reevis Mountain School. It was there that I learned that the school is still active. As I stood looking at the gate, I heard a large animal clomping around on the hill to my left. It didn't sound as clumsy as a cow or as light as a deer. I only saw a small part of it as it walked through the trees above me. I don't think there are elk in that area. It sounded like it had hooves, though. I didn't see any cows the whole time I was out there. Well, no live cows, that is.

Signs near the gate. I bet Peter gets tired of hearing Bigfoot jokes.

The first photo point I visited was near the gate, and I went over there to get the pictures. I was getting thirsty by the time I was done and was a little worried about the truck windows being open. The RMS sign seemed very inviting and I wanted to check out the place, but I headed back to the truck. Here is more info on the school, if you are interested.

When I got back to the truck, I drank some water and headed for the next photo point, which was just a few feet from where I parked. I was taking pictures when a side-by-side with a couple of guys in it pulled into the parking lot. I wasn't concerned until the engine shut off. Then I decided I should let them know the truck wasn't unattended. They were busy getting more beer out of their cooler and getting rid of the beer for which their lease had expired. I got in the truck and headed for the next photo point.

Here's a short video of Campaign Creek just upstream of the road. I made a video so you could hear the water and the birds. The birds were mostly quiet, though.

At the next photo point, I took the pictures a few yards upstream of the road and was headed back to the truck when a Suburban with a big winch on the front went by. I waved and they waved back. Later, when I had just two photo points left, I parked at the bottom of Skydive Hill. When I shut off the engine, I thought I could hear the Suburban approaching. I thought about that big winch. I thought about the fact that I still wasn't sure I could drive up Skydive Hill. I thought about how somebody driving a Suburban would love to gloat over helping a Toyota up a hill. I decided to try driving up the hill before the Suburban arrived. It was a piece of cake. I locked the rear axle part of the way but probably didn't have to.

I took my backpack to hike to the last two photo points, which was a good thing. I drank lots of water and ate some snacks along the way.

Here's a dead cow. At least, I think it's a cow. Hard to tell. I see bones all over the place when taking photo point pictures.

The hike to the next photo point was very scenic. I walked very slowly, enjoying the views.

The next photos are to be taken from the top of that ledge on the right. That tree that has fallen on the ledge completely blocks the downstream view, though. Would have taken too much sawing to cut branches out of the way.

It took me 3 hours to take a few pictures. Seems like a long time. I was having fun, though. I'm going to check out some of the side roads out there some time. I'll probably check out some of the hiking trails when the weather cools off a little more, too. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_10_15

Campaign Creek treasure hunt, part 1

Yes, this is just part 1. There were complications, as usual. One was my fault, and one was the weather.

There were a few nice clouds around when I got out there. There was rain in the forecast, though, and it was early in the day.

I got out there earlier than usual. Before lunch. I was planning to eat some of the food bars in a box in my backpack. Before I left the house, I checked to be sure that I had plenty of water, that all batteries were charged, that I had all the maps I might need, etc., etc. But I didn't look in that box.

Forty-five minutes later and those clouds have grown and are dropping some rain.

The first photo point I came to was easy to find and was right next to the road. The creek bed seems to have changed a lot since the original photos were take in '96. There were some features in the backgrounds of the originals that helped me get in the right spots for the photos, though.

There are some interesting rock formations in this area. Oh, and clouds are forming on this side of the lake, now.

I'm really glad I've been doing this photo point stuff. I've seen lots of beautiful areas that I probably never would have visited otherwise. I hope they don't run out of places that need to be photographed.

The next group of photo points was at the bottom of a hill. The road looked really steep from the top. Skid doesn't seem to mind coming to rescue me when I'm stuck somewhere within 20 miles of his house, but he might not be too enthusiastic about going all the way out to Roosevelt Lake. From the top of the hill, it was only 1 mile to the furthest photo point. An easy walk, so I left the truck at the top of the hill and walked. At the bottom of the hill, I decided to go after a photo point that was about 75 yards upstream of the road crossing first. It was beautiful along there. Trees completely covered the area, but there was plenty of room to walk. There were pools of water every once in a while, but they weren't stagnant. Water was flowing through them. There were lots of large birds flying around. I couldn't get a good look at them through the trees. I'm pretty sure one was a hawk. I saw a pair flying together that reminded me of woodpeckers, but I didn't get a very good look at them. I did hear woodpeckers now and then, though. I heard bird calls the whole time that I didn't recognize. Most of the time I was up there, there was a nice breeze blowing through.

Fish in a puddle.

The photo point that I was searching for turned out to be one of those difficult ones. I think the creek bed had changed so much, it just wasn't recognizable. There weren't any mountain ridges or such in the backgrounds of the reference photos to use as a reference. The description mentioned standing on some bedrock to take the photo, but there wasn't any bedrock to stand on any where near where the photo point should have been. I finally decided that the bedrock was now buried in sand and took the picture from where I thought I should. I didn't arrive at that decision lightly, though. I walked up and down that creek bed several times. One thing that made that difficult was that a cow had died near there. At least, I assume it was a cow. I didn't want to see whatever it was. For a 20 yard stretch the stench was so bad I held my breath even though I was panting from scrambling back and forth. On one of the downstream walks during my search (and at a spot where the air was fresh and breathable), I decided I needed some nourishment to continue my search. That's when I discovered I was carrying an empty box of food bars. Well, there had been other developments during the search. As I walked up and down the creek bed, I noticed that it had suddenly gotten darker. I was so intent on my search, though, I didn't look up. At least, not until I heard a loud clap of thunder. I had been thinking that I might be able to continue getting pictures on an empty stomach, but I also thought about the fact that I had to drive in the creek bed for a few miles to get out of there. There's a ranch house in that creek bed, and they've built massive concrete, sand, and steel walls to keep the creek out when it floods. If it did flood, I didn't want to be there.

I need something for scale here. That crescent shaped rock is about 5 feet tall.

Remember that I left the truck at the top of a hill? Remember the thunder? The closer I got to the truck, the more exposed I felt, and the faster I climbed. When I finally got to the truck, gasping and dripping with sweat, I was anxious to be surrounded by steel with A/C blowing on me. Then a large wasp decided that it wanted to land on me. I don't know why it wanted to do that. I've had honey bees fly around my waist bumping into me now and then, but they go away after a while. I didn't know what the wasp would do, though. I thought about jumping into the truck with my backpack on, but I wasn't sure I would fit like that, and while I was trying to squeeze in the wasp would be able to land on me and have it's way with me. So I bopped it with the photo point notebook. Maybe not the best idea, but I was hoping that might scare it away. Armed bugs don't seem to scare easily, though. They just get mad. It came back at me and seemed agitated now, and more insistent about landing on me. Thunder rumbled through the surrounding canyons. Sweat burned my eyes. My legs trembled from hunger. I decided that this was no time to be messing around with a silly wasp and bopped it hard. While it was on the ground I mashed it and got in the truck. I felt a little bad about stomping on it but I would have felt worse if it had stung me or if I had been blasted by lightning while dancing around my truck. I didn't get a good look at it. It wasn't a tarantula hawk. It looked a little like a yellow jacket but about twice as big.

I found a crested saguaro.

I drove to Boston's Bar at Grill at Roosevelt Lake. It was a little high priced but was good food. I hung around in that area trying to decide if I should head back up Campaign Creek for a while. I could see that it was raining up there, though. No sense in pushing my luck. I got home long before sunset for a change. Can't wait to go back and finish. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_10_02

Rock Creek

I had decided that it was just too hot this summer to be taking Photo Point pictures, but by Friday evening I was anxious to go get some more pictures. I headed out toward Roosevelt Lake again. It was smokey when I left the valley, and it was smokey when I passed through Miami / Globe. There are a couple of forest fires that are putting out a lot of smoke. They are small compared to some we've had this summer, and with the monsoon humidity they aren't going wild, and they were started by lightning, so the forest service is letting them burn.

You can see smoke from one of the fires in this picture, if you know where to look and look closely.

I had coordinates for all the photo points already entered in my GPS receiver, and most of them were along a road, so I didn't waste much time wandering around in the heat. Still, whenever I walked over cottonwood leaves scattered on the ground, it sounded like it was raining from all the sweat dripping off my face. It was only about 100 and I wasn't doing much climbing, so the humidity must have been up. Also, I seem to sweat a lot more when I'm working on something. If I'm in the driveway changing a car battery, I'll be drenched. If I'm hiking I don't even sweat that much going uphill. Maybe it's because just hiking is so relaxing. Searching for photo points must be a little more taxing.

The first photo points were near a forest service cabin, which seems to be unoccupied at the moment. One of the photo points there was near wood piles and a thick layer of leaves on the ground and tall grass and other stuff. I don't normally worry about rattlesnakes while hiking because I have a good view of the ground. If I see them before I'm within striking distance, there's no problem. If there was one near that cabin, though, I could have stepped on it before I saw it.

A couple of recent photo points have been like that. They seem harmless and probably are harmless at least 95% of the time. After 8 years of hiking alone in the desert, I have developed rules for myself to avoid risky situations, and it's difficult to go against them. No hiker plans to get bitten, mauled, dehydrated, or fall off a cliff, but all it takes is two mistakes and you can be in big trouble. Going into a risky situation is a mistake that can be avoided if you recognize the risky situations. The second mistake will be a surprise (stepping on a snake, losing your footing, etc.), so you can't always prepare for it. Best to avoid the first mistake. If the first mistake can't be avoided, then you need to be very careful because you're one step away from disaster instead of two.

Speaking of losing your footing, I did that yesterday on the steep bank of a creek. I slid all the way to the bottom on my butt. Must have slid a foot and a half. That's why I avoid long steep slopes or steep slopes with a cliff at the bottom. I couldn't avoid the second mistake yesterday, but I didn't make the mistake of being on a dangerous slope, so it was no big deal. I didn't even get dirt in my pants this time (yes, I slip and fall down once or twice a year).

I didn't take a lot of non photo point pictures on this outing. That's one way I can tell that I've been out in the heat too long. If I look and something and think that I should take a picture of it but I don't because it's too much effort, it's time to get out of the sun. Anyway, click below to see the few pictures that there are.

2011_09_03

Armer Gulch and Cottonwood Wash

I haven't taken any Photo Point pictures for a while. I decided to try to get out to a couple of them early Saturday, before it got too hot. It's a long drive, though, so I didn't get there very early. I was heading for Armer Gulch and Cottonwood Wash, just east of Roosevelt Lake. Another reason I wanted to go to that area was to get a look at Parker Canyon from the east.

Every time I've crossed the Salt River before, I've thought that I should stop and take a picture. Can't remember if I ever did, but it would have been nice for comparison. I don't think I've ever seen it so muddy.

I stopped to take some pictures at the Salt River. It was about 92 then and felt pretty good. I was thinking it might be pleasant as I took pictures at the photo points. Silly me.

There were puffy clouds to the east when I arrived.

I got to the side "road" that went to the first photo point and was supposed to follow it for half a mile. I remembered to look at the tripmeter. 82.1. There were lots of mesquite and cat claw branches intruding into the path. I dodged this way and that trying to avoid them, but was not very successful. After going through dozens and dozens of branches I checked the tripmeter to see if I was almost there. 82.1. I parked and started walking.

I had to climb a little to get into position for the first pictures. I had reference pictures with me that I had to match. A rock ledge lined up with distant mountains in one picture and a saguaro lined up with a road in the other showed me exactly where I needed to stand. I needed to stand in a place that, if I was out hiking just for fun, I would not have gone. It was at the top of a steep slope of loose dirt. If I slipped, I would probably go all the way to the bottom. At least there was a bottom. The dirt was very soft, so each time I put a foot down, I carefully let it sink into the dirt and made sure it couldn't slide downhill. I was wondering why that spot was picked and remembered that it was picked 20 years ago. I probably would have thought it was a good spot 20 years ago, too. I was still pretty much invincible then.

The climb and descent got me warmed up. There wasn't much of a breeze, especially once I was back down in the mesquites. I trudged back to the truck and started looking for the second photo point. Turns out I parked about 50 feet from it. A cottonwood in a reference picture was still there, but it was dead and will be gone soon.

I decided to trim some branches before driving out. I didn't cut very many, and my saw worked quickly, but the exertion and being in trees too thick to let a breeze through but too thin to block the sun just about fried me. I was able to drive to the third photo point.

Armer Gulch; a river of green flowing to Roosevelt Lake

After getting the last Armer Gulch pictures, I decided I needed to do some serious cooling off. I didn't know if I would even try to get any more photo point pictures. I wandered around (in the truck) trying to find a way to Parker Canyon and eating food bars and drinking water and drinking water. No, I didn't stutter.

I came across this while cooling off. The inside is about 4 feet by 5 feet. I can't imagine what it was for. It looks like it had a sturdy door, but that's been destroyed.

This narrow canyon is formed by Parker Creek. I'll get some pictures from the bottom when it's cooler and less likely to rain.

There were clouds building to the east as I drove around. I could see some rain and heard a little thunder. If it started to rain near where I was, I would just have to sit in the truck and wait. I'm sure there would be lots of water going across the roads. I wasn't going to worry about it, though. I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. Ha ha. Groan.

The road I was following toward Parker Canyon got worse the further I went, but I was able to keep going, so go I did. I came to a spot with several tall cottonwoods. A side road off the side road went into the middle of lush greenery. The ground on the sides of the side side road was solid berry vines. It was like a dark jungle in there.

A dense jungle in the desert.

There was a convenient place to park near the side road (which, strangely, was covered in a think layer of ash), so I parked and headed into the jungle. It was eerie. The eeriest part was a chain link fence at the end of the road. There were no tracks, no trail, just plants on the other side of the fence. Suddenly I heard "Hotel California" playing in my mind. It was just too creepy. I left.

You can check in, but you can't check out. I made like a ballerina and split.

After driving around for a while, I was cooled off and feeling pretty good. The clouds were also providing some shade so I decided to take pictures for the Cottonwood Wash photo points.

Cottonwood Wash, with Parker Canyon in sunlight in the background.

I walked up and down Cottonwood Wash several times looking for the first photo point. The reference pictures had no distinguishing reference points. No mountains in the backgrounds, no huge boulders, no steep banks. I couldn't find anything that looked as plain as the reference pictures. I was getting hot again, too. The clouds were dissipating. I was also getting tired since I hadn't had much of a lunch. My documentation has coordinates so I resorted to putting those in my GPS receiver. They took me to a spot that looked a little like the reference pictures; a rocky wash. Actually, the coordinates took me out of the wash, far beyond what typical GPS error would have done. I got close to the coordinates but stayed in the wash and took pictures. The next photo point was like that, too. If I hadn't had coordinates for the third, I would not have found it for weeks from the description. There were large cottonwoods there that matched the reference photos, so I knew I had found the right spot.

At one of the Cottonwood Wash photo points, I had taken my sunglasses off to take pictures and never picked them back up. At least I think that's what happened to them. I guess they could still be in the truck somewhere, but I can't find them. I'm glad I buy really cheap sunglasses. That pair had already lasted longer than most.

Several times while I was out there I searched for the tiniest bit of shade and stood there panting in the heat. It was very uncomfortable. Part of the problem is that I wear bluejeans. Very blue jeans. They soak up heat. Several times I've gone to stores planning to buy some thin, light colored pants. All the stores I've been to only have light colored pants for short, fat guys. What's up with that? Do the short fat guys run all the light colored pants factories or something? Well, I may have been uncomfortable, but I still had fun. I saw lots of cool stuff, too. I'd do it again. I will do it again. Click below to see most of the pictures.

2011_08_20

On a treasure hunt

I was wandering around somewhere on the web a few months ago and ran across a short blurb about the Forest Service looking for some volunteers with cameras to help with a research project. I sent an email to the person in charge and kind of forgot about it because she was too busy to respond for a couple of months. I finally met with her a couple of weeks ago and she gave me my first assignment. She gave me a notebook with maps and descriptions and sample photos, and my task was to go to the exact locations at which the initial pictures had been taken and take updated pictures from exactly the same spots covering exactly the same scenes. Sounds simple. I should have listened more carefully to the description of where to turn off of Cherry Creek road, though. I spent an hour on the wrong road. I enjoyed being on the wrong road, but by the time I got to the right place it was too late to get good pictures.

I came across this while I was on the wrong road.

It probably wouldn't have helped much if I had gotten to the right place an hour sooner, though. The maps are called treasure maps for a reason. The reference pictures were taken in 1997 or 2003. For that reason, I didn't think I could rely on trees looking the same, or even being there any more. I looked for large boulders in the pictures to use as a reference. I walked slowly down the creek (Oak Creek, BTW) trying to follow descriptions and looking for recognizable boulders. I went beyond where the last one should have been without finding any of the 5 that were there.

Much of the hike was easy walking like this, but there was also some scrambling over boulders.

Some reference pictures seem to have nothing but vegetation in them. They're going to be hard to find. I looked for big boulders, thinking that they shouldn't have changed much in 14 years. I continued to look as I headed back to the truck. At one point I saw a stack of rocks that looked a little familiar. I moved to the left and recognized a view from Photo Point #5. Finally. I knew it was the right spot, but some things still didn't look right. As I looked at the pictures last night, I saw that a large boulder that I was looking for on the ground was now half buried and had another large boulder in front of it. Wow, some big stuff has been moved around in the past few years. It was too dark in the canyon to get good pictures, but now I have a reference point. From there I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find the rest of the Photo Points the next time I'm out there.

I also found this. It was nice of him to pose for pictures. I saw another, lighter colored one but it hid under a rock.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_05_15