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

Spiders. Not.

A few years ago, I had been standing on some river rocks at the edge of the Salt River, and dozens of spiders came up from their hiding places between and under the rocks to hunt, "socialize", or search for a mate (actually, I have no idea why they were on top of the rocks). I got a few pictures then, but I thought a super panorama stitched together out of lots of pictures might look cool. I finally got around to doing that a couple of days ago. I think it was too late in the year, though. I only saw three spiders. Maybe it was too late in the day, too. It was too dark to get any good pictures.

One grainy spider picture.

I saw a few strange things out there. Lots of people go out there, though, so I guess strange things should be expected. First was a hole that somebody had dug in the sand of a wash. What made it strange was that it had boards around the sides, like it was a mine shaft. The hole had been filled in with rocks.

What's under those rocks? I'm not about to look. Help yourself.

The river almost always looks pretty.

The next strange thing was a dead cow. Well, dead cows aren't strange. I've come across dead cows everywhere that cows hang out. The strange thing about this one was that it was in a place where there shouldn't be any cows. Must have been dropped there by a UFO when the aliens were done with it. Wait. I just realized that maybe it's a horse. There are wild horses out there. I only paused near it long enough to get a quick picture. I can't hold my breath for very long when I'm hiking.

Putrid cow. Or horse.

The third strange thing was lots of pieces of fabric in trees. I guess the river left them there, but where did it get them? Also, I didn't know the river ever got that high. With all the dams on the Salt, I wonder if it's possible for it to flood right there any more. This was just a few miles downstream of the Stewart Mountain dam.

Fabric in trees.

Getting late. I like the way this turned out.

Except for the stinky cow, it was a fun hike. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_10_12

A long ride

Julia and Willie are visiting this weekend and wanted to go for a ride in the Ranger yesterday. It's finally cool enough to do that again. I wanted to show them a scenic area that nobody except hardcore off-road enthusiasts and ATV riders see. We went to Box Canyon road, at the end of Price road, east of Florence.

At our first picture-taking stop.

It was a beautiful, cloudless day. Well, I did see 2 small clouds. They were small, though. Julia almost couldn't find them. It was very cool in the morning, which I think is why they were wearing black. It was a little too warm for all that black by the time we were done.

Enjoying the view.

I was trying to make it all the way to the coke ovens on this trip, also. That's a very long trip, though. We drove 21 miles and still didn't get there. We were stopped by something I didn't want to take the Ranger over.

This is too big of a step for the Ranger. It's interesting how many vehicle parts are scattered along this "road". There were what looked like bicycle pieces here.

Scenic view.

I thought we might be out there for 2 or 3 hours, but it turned out to be about 5 hours. It had rained a few days earlier and we didn't encounter much other traffic until the last half hour or so, so there wasn't much dust. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_10_08

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

Another attempt at a Fish Creek Hill overlook

This time I went slightly north of where I did last time, and I went along the bottom of one of the many "canyons". It was much cooler that it had been the last time I was out there; just 95 or so. There was also a very nice breeze blowing. Pretty close to perfect weather. I like it warm.

I followed the canyon just to the right of center, though not at the very bottom; too many plants there.

There were lots of side canyons and I could see that a person could quickly get confused about which direction they had come from when trying to find their way back. I got out there kind of late and didn't have a lot of sunshine left and I was getting hungry, so when a cloud got in front of the sun and made it seem much later than it was, I turned back.

I saw what looked like a rock climber stuck on a cliff face in the distance. Turns out it was a light-colored rock.

I was out there late enough for good lighting.

I went out there mostly to enjoy some peace and quiet and solitude, and I accomplished that. I wasn't at all disappointed about not getting to a point where I would see the road going down Fish Creek Hill. I'm going to change my approach the next time out there. In the direction I've gone the last two times, I would have to be right on the cliff edge to be able to see the road below, and we all know I can't stand to do that. Next time, I'm going to follow a ridge south of where I've been going that should give me a good view of the hill. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_09_25

Wednesday afternoon stroll

It seemed so cool again on Wednesday that I went for a short hike. It was below 100 when I parked the truck. I went out by Canyon Lake again because there's lots of places I haven't seen out there that are easy to get to.

The landscape is very rocky around Canyon Lake. There are also a lot of power lines.

It turns out that I was in Willow Creek again, further upstream than I've been before. I went down there because there is so much solid rock. I thought it might make some interesting pictures. The sun set too soon, though. Actually, it was blocked by mountains.

This cholla skeleton would have looked better with the sun shining on it.

I've been planning to get another super panorama of the Superstition Mountains, this time from Silly Mountain, for a while. I thought Wednesday might be the perfect day for it. The air seemed very clear, but on the way there I saw that there were a few clouds on the horizon that I didn't want in the picture. Wound up at Willow Creek instead.

One of those clouds.

As I was headed back to the truck, I saw a cloud that had an odd shape for a cloud. I had seen smoke on the way out there and so I thought that maybe that's what it was.

An odd-looking cloud that turned out to not be a cloud. Well, not a water cloud.

Before I went back to the truck, I climbed a hill near it and was surprised to see that it looked very hazy in all directions. I couldn't smell smoke, though. I decided that it must be dust. It did arrive with a gust of wind, but not a very strong gust. It must have been very fine dust. I tried getting pictures that show it, but it was getting dark.

Dust in the air.

It looked like the dust went all the way out to Four Peaks. It covered the Superstition and Goldfield Mountains. Good thing I hadn't been trying to get that super panorama. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_09_21

Willow Creek to the Salt River

I was very curious to see what the rest of Willow Creek looks like. I went back to it on Saturday afternoon. A long time ago, somebody must have dumped a lot of 50 gallon drums near where I parked this time. They were scattered all along Willow Creek and the wash I followed to Willow Creek. Made me wonder what kind of toxic wastes might have been dumped into the water supply.

Old tires, 50 gallon drums, and shot up cans, bottles, and hub caps define this hike. One of the reasons I don't like hiking so close to busy roads.

I had trouble with my DeLorme PN-40 on this hike. Since I was in a narrow canyon, it couldn't acquire enough satellites to navigate. That shouldn't be a big deal, BUT the PN-40 asks if you want it to continue searching for satellites or give up. Since the receiver is in a pocket of my backpack, I don't know it's waiting for an answer. Still, that shouldn't be a complete disaster. I mean, I should have the GPS track up until the point that it was unable to navigate any more, right? Wrong! The two times that my PN-40 has gotten into this situation, it deleted all the track data it had collected up to that point. I might as well have never tuned it on. Seems like a serious software flaw. I'll have to check online sometime and see if there's a fix. This time, not only did it delete all track data (which is stored in non-volatile memory, so it wasn't deleted because of what I had to do next), but it froze up like a Windows PC. None of the buttons did anything. I had to pull the batteries out before I could do anything with it. This behavior is really aggravating. Good thing I don't rely on it for anything other than geotagging pictures. For some of Saturdays pictures, I knew exactly where I was when I took them. For a lot that I took in Willow Creek, though, I had to guess.

This PN-40 and the track it had saved until this happened are toast.

Anyway, back to the hike. I stumbled across some javelinas. There were at least 3 and they all ran different directions. I tried to get pictures but they didn't turn out very good.

Here's a javelina leaping through the air.

The closer I got to the Salt River, the steeper Willow Creek became and the larger the boulders in Willow Creek. I took me almost 15 minutes to cover the last 200 feet of the hike. It would have taken some rock climbing equipment to go any further than I did.

A view of the river, which is good since I couldn't go any further.

I didn't stay there long. The sun was getting low and so I had to get close to the truck before it got dark. Also, I wanted to be able to see the javelinas if I came across them again. Not because I like seeing javelinas, but because I like to keep an eye on animals that can tear me up if they feel so inclined. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_09_17

Back to the dry waterfall

I kept wondering what the place where that dry waterfall I saw last week would look like from the creek at the bottom. Wednesday was another cool day (I think the high was 99), so I went back. The trail I had seen in Google Earth was well-worn and easy to find and not too steep. I got to the bottom and a little ways up the other side to get pictures. It wasn't real impressive, but I'm sure it looks better with water.

Location of the waterfall. Imagine some water.

On the way down, I noticed the the view downstream was nice. I still had some sunlight so I headed that way. As I left the area where I had come down to the creek bed, I stopped and looked around at the area for a while. I didn't want to miss my exit on the way back.

Downstream. Could be interesting.

Every time I've hiked near Canyon Lake before, I've headed to the tops of hills or mountains because the view is usually spectacular. This hike was completely different but still very interesting. It was someplace that I had never been, and I couldn't even see any place that I had ever been. It was a little eerie. The best thing about it was how quiet it was. The drawback to hiking near the lake is all the traffic noise. Down in the canyon, I couldn't hear it at all. There were no bug noises, and few bird calls. Just my breathing and the crunching of my footsteps. Oh, and my camera shutter now and then.

A canyon wren posed for pictures. Well, I was in a canyon.

As I walked along, I kept thinking that I might see the lake or the river that drains it around the next bend, or maybe the bend after that. As sunset approached, I got my GPS receiver out to see where I was. It was another half mile to the river as the crow flies, and almost a mile the way I stagger over boulders and around bushes and trees. The moon wouldn't be up for quite a while after sunset, so it was time to head back. I don't carry a flashlight bright enough to find the landmarks I had memorized. I got back with light to spare.

I want to go the rest of the way to the river. There's another place I can park that will easily get me to where I stopped this time. Some time soon...

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_09_14

A (dry) waterfall, and a haboob

Saturday was wonderfully cool (only about 100), but there were lots of showers around so I didn't go hiking. I did drive around in some heave rainstorms, though. It was still pretty cool on Sunday (I think the high was 99), and the showers were smaller and further between, so I headed out to a place near Canyon Lake that I have been meaning to check out. There's a road next to an old corral that I've seen a couple of vehicles going down. When I got there, there were signs saying that the road was closed to vehicles. No problem, I was out there to hike anyway.

Parking spot with fluffy clouds.

That vertical sign in the middle says "No vehicles".

My only plan was to wander around a little and see what I could find. When I was beyond the end of the "road", I noticed an interesting cliff to west and decided to get a closer look at it after I got pictures of the nice view to the east.

The view to the east.

It turns out that the interesting cliff probably has a very nice waterfall pouring over it when it rains hard enough. I couldn't get a very good picture of it, though. I would have had to get close to the edge to do that, and it was at least a 20 foot drop. I don't like being on cliff edges when I'm taking pictures. I really need to get a stereo picture from the bottom. I was looking at Google Earth tonight and it looks like there might be a path down to the bottom just east of the waterfall. I'll have to make plans to hike down there during a good soaking winter rain.

Speaking of rain, there was some on the way.

It looked like it might rain while I was out there, but it would probably be a light shower, with lots of lightning and probably dust. I didn't want to be out in it. I headed for the truck and started driving back. As I drove along Apache Trail, I saw dust obscuring the Santan Mountains to the south. When I finally got to a place that I could see across the valley to the west, I saw a wall of dust headed north. It was a classic haboob. We've had several of those this summer, but I was never in the right place at the right time to get any pictures. I was on the shady side of this one, but it was better than nothing.

Haboob heading north.

I was about 5 miles from home when I got into the dust myself. It wasn't very thick on my side of town. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_09_11

A brief respite

As I walked to my car after work yesterday, I marveled at the fact that it didn't feel like the skin on my face was being set on fire. It was only about 105 when I got home. I grabbed my backpack and camera and headed for Bulldog Canyon. It was only about 101 when I got out of the truck. Since it was so cool, I headed uphill.

Every time I've walked by this, I've thought about climbing it. Finally did it.

I headed up a slope that I've looked at many times, wondering if it would be possible to walk up it. Sometimes it looked easy and sometimes it looked impossible. I guess it's a little of both.

The view from where I stopped climbing.

It was easy because I was always able to find paths that were not extremely steep. I realized that it could be difficult getting back down if I wasn't able to retrace all those little twists and turns. I did in fact make a major wrong turn on the way down and had to double back a little ways when I got to a dead end (in the form of a 20 foot drop).

That's Four Peaks back there.

I stopped before I got to the top for several reasons. First, I am out of shape. Second, I was unfamiliar with that area. Third, it was getting close to sunset. Being in an unfamiliar area when you are tired and it's dark is one step away from disaster, so I didn't push things by going the last few feet to the top. Also, as anyone who has done any climbing at all knows, when it looks like you are close to the top, you aren't. I got back to the truck well before sunset. It was back to being toasty outside today. Glad I went for a hike while I could. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2011_09_06