Told to go home

My friend Gary, from Houston, was in town last month. As usual, we went on a few hikes. We went after I got off work one day, so we got a late start. The days are getting long enough for that, though. I was planning to go down Black Canyon to First Water Creek. It's a very scenic area.

First rattler of the year.

There were several horse trailers in the parking area when we got there. As I was turning on and strapping on all my gadgets (I'm seriously starting to think I carry too much crap when I hike), one of the horse guys came over and asked if we knew where the trailhead was. I nodded towards the telephone pole where the trail starts and said it was over by that pole. Words mean different things to different people, though. He thought he had to do something about a rattlesnake (pictured above) that was at least 70 feet from the pole before he could take horses down the trail. I clarified. You can touch the pole at the start of the trail. The snake remained unmolested, and nobody got bit.

It turns out that the reason all those people and horses were there was because a woman's horse had run off a few days earlier and a hiker had found the horse that morning and they were all going to try to find it again and retrieve it. They were planning to take their horses down Black Canyon to First Water Creek. I don't know a lot about horse capabilities, but I told them that I thought it might be too steep for horses in a couple of places. Turns out they made it about two thirds of the way down before several people went back with the horses while a couple of guys carried on to get the horse in the creek.

This is about as far as we got going up First Water creek. It was too dark for good pictures.

The guys after the horse were in a hurry and left us behind once we got to the creek. Gary and I went upstream a little ways but it didn't take long to get to a spot where too much climbing over rocks was involved. Also, it was getting dark, so we started back. About that time, a Maricopa County sheriff's helicopter started circling the area. It spent a lot of time hovering over some parts of the creek and we wondered if they had spotted the horse. When we were about a quarter of the way up Black Canyon, it came and hovered over us. I zoomed in and took some pictures like I always do when they fly over. Then we continued hiking. As I walked, I thought it was strange that he hovered over us like that. I brought up the pictures and zoomed in on one and I could see a hand out a window pointing toward the trailhead. The copter couldn't get low enough for us to see the hand directly (copters in canyons are a bad idea). If I hadn't had substantial zoom and then zoomed in on the picture, we would not have had any idea what he was doing.

"Go home"

On the one hand, it annoys me that some deputy thinks he can say when it's time for me to go home. I'm an adult. If I want to dance with rattlesnakes in the pale moonlight, that's my business. On the other hand, maybe he thought we were also looking for the horse and he was letting us know we didn't have to search any more because somebody else had it. Here is the story about the horse's rescue. I would like to know what route they took to get out of there. I don't think they could have come out the way we went in.

When we got back to the parking area, there was a deputy there that wanted our names and the names of anybody else that was still down at the creek. It seems they did think we were with the people trying to get the horse. I guess if I was a deputy, I would want the names of everybody that came out of there, just in case somebody turned up missing that night. If he had the missing person's name on his list then he would know the missing person is probably in a bar somewhere and they wouldn't have to search the canyon for him.

Click below for all of the pictures. Didn't take a lot in the darkness.

2014_03_20

Helicopters

OK, this has nothing to do with exploring the desert, but it was fun. Lindsey and I got Havoc Heli's today. We've only flown them once so far. They're a lot of fun. Here are some videos.

Helicopters buzz the Salt River

Date: August 18, 2007
Location: Salt River, near Blue Point
Time and temperature: Start - 1725, 109
End - 1905, 104
Distance hiked About 2 miles
The numbers:
57 Pictures taken
3 Helicopters seen
2 Kayaks seen
1 set of miniblinds seen

Ramblings: It was a little dryer today. It didn't feel too hot until I got close to the river. That's where the mosquitoes were hanging out, too. The river seems to have changed since the picture on Google Earth was taken. It has a small side-stream that breaks off from the main river for a couple of hundred yards or so. At first I thought the side stream was the river and I was wondering how people could stand to go through such slow moving water (with green gunk on top) that had tree branches dangling in the water all the way across. Then I found the real river. I was surprised at how much water was flowing through it.

You can tell that a lot of people visit the river along here. There's a lot of strange stuff laying on the ground, and large areas where plants have been wiped out.

When I started the hike, a sheriff's SUV went by in Bush Highway with lights and siren going. A couple of minutes later a helicopter came the other direction and went right over me. At first I thought it might be rushing somebody to the hospital, but it turns out it was a sheriff's helicopter. It flew back and forth several times and would sometimes fly slowly over some areas. It was mostly following the river. I wonder if they saw me snapping pictures each time they went by. A couple of other helicopters flew along the river, too. I also heard a couple of airboats on the river. I wasn't close enough to the river at the time to see them or get a picture, though. It might have been useful to have had my scanner with me, but there's a limit to how much stuff I can carry around in that heat.

Speaking of the heat, I wonder if I might have gotten a little too warm. I started feeling woozy just before I got back to the truck and felt that way until after I got home and ate. Maybe I was just hungry. I felt fine, except for my feet. I forgot to take my Celebrex this morning and my feet were killing me after an hour and a half of walking on river rocks and loose sand. They're much better now, though.

Salt_River_2007_08_18