We drove about 45 minutes before arriving at the park. There is an entrance gate there where they collect a fee. We had purchased both an Arizona State Park pass and an Interagency Pass which is supposed to get you into any National Park or National Forest with the exception of Monument Valley and Mount Rushmore. This park happened to be part of the National Forest.
What we found out is that the Interagency Pass is good for every where except where you want to go! Three out of the four places we've tried to use the pass we've been told it was an exception. Okay, whatever. So Mike pulled out his credit card to pay but they don't accept credit cards. We hadn't come prepared with cash as we thought one of our two passes would get us in with no problem. We were very disappointed as we'd really been looking forward to a nice hike for the dogs that wouldn't be too hot.
So we drove through the canyon looking for a place to hike that would be both flat and shady. We had trouble finding a trail that fit both qualifications. But eventually we found something that we thought might work.
The best thing about the hike we found was that even though there were a lot of cars at the trailhead, everyone was doing the vista hike so the canyon hike was deserted. This trail obviously can only be done in the summer months as quite a bit of the hike went up a creek bed. If there was any water it would have been moving swiftly making this an impossible hike.
Since it was a very steep incline on both sides it was safe for the dogs to be off leash. Even so, we kept Slugger on leash the entire time except when we stopped for one of our frequent water breaks. There were spots of shade but most of the hike was in the sun.
Every time we would come to a shady spot, Boogie would dig himself a trough and then lie down in it. Boogie loves to dig anytime he sees dirt.
Too cute. But we definitely won't let him go anywhere near dirt in southern Arizona - we certainly don't want another dog with Valley Fever.
At places along the hike, there were some pretty views. This rock reminded me of a cruise ship.
This formation I thought was interesting as there was no other rocks near this pillar sticking up all by itself.
Other than trees, there wasn't a lot of plant life. There were a couple kinds of cactus around. Here is the very rare (NOT!) Yucca plant.
And here is a Prickly Pear that is about to bloom.
Boogie thought there were much more interesting things around than plants that stick you. He is fascinated by moths and butterflies. At one point while we were in the creek bed he found a playful moth. He chased it up the creek bed for a little while before he caught it in his mouth.
He immediately spit it out and laid down to watch it flutter around.
If you look closely you'll see that he is now batting at the moth.
That probably wasn't so good for the moth - but it was tough as it kept moving around...which as you can see, Boogie thought was fascinating.
This whole play time lasted at least 10 minutes before we finally made Boogie move along. At least this all happened in the shade so the other dogs didn't get hot while they waited for him to finish his little game.
At some points along the hike, the creek bed was straight up and down - which meant that when there would be water there would be some good sized waterfalls. Here you can see how the water has carved a very deep grove in the rocks.
One of our water breaks was on the top of a little ridge where we could see for quite a ways.
Notice how different the view is depending on the direction you look.
The dogs were really enjoying being free to run but they all had really big tongues. Anytime they saw shade they took advantage of it. They are so smart - they totally understand where the coolest spots are. Here Wazzu and Boogie found a shady spot under a rock overhang.
After letting them rest a while (especially since they were so cute!) we moved on to the next interesting spot. There was a very long red rock wall. Sparkie, being a little mountain goat, got to the top in about two steps. Boogie is a real little trooper and while it took him a bit longer he made it all by himself. We had to help Slugger and Wazzu.
That was a lot of work so Mike and Boogie took a short break in the shade.
While the dogs wanted to keep going we wanted to be careful and make sure no one got overheated so after about an hour we turned back. When we got back to the trailhead we wanted to go to the little overlook to look at the bridge and river below. But the second the dogs saw the shade they all went down - well except Sparkie as she wanted to be ready in case we were going to go someplace else.
While they were resting I looked over the edge at the bridge and river - mom, you wouldn't have wanted to do that! The river is way too far down to get the river and the bridge in one picture so here you'll only see the bridge.
It was so hot that when we got back to the RV the dogs slept the rest of the afternoon. About 5:30 I noticed the sun was starting to go down so I went out to take pictures of the clouds. Here you'll see a progression of clouds as the sun goes down.
As the sun is just going behind the mountains the clouds are still very bright.
About five minutes later those same clouds looked very different.
I found it interesting that the further the sun went down, the pinker the clouds got.
Looking in the opposite direction there were a lot of clouds just hanging over the mountains.
These clouds looked so fluffy and soft. It kind of looked like to me that they were doing some sort of very elegant dance.
I was so intrigued by the color and formations of the clouds. It wasn't windy but it seemed like the cloud formations were changing rapidly.
Just before complete darkness I saw one last interesting red cloud.
What a great place to be to see such beautiful sunsets.
Debbie
10/9/07
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