This morning we took off bright and early for Mt. Lemmon outside of Tucson. We decided to go there as it should be about 20 degrees cooler than down in town. The dogs will like 68-70 much better than 88-90.
The first trail we stopped at was called Butterfly Trail. I don't know why, but as we started hiking I wondered how they ever came up with that name - I wasn't seeing any butterflies. But after we'd been hiking for a little while I figured it out. You had to be a butterfly to do this trail. It was very narrow and quickly went this way and that. In fact, we'd only been hiking about 15 minutes when Mike slipped and fell off the trail and was skidding down the side of the mountain. Good thing he had Slugger on leash! Slugger made a great anchor and stopped Mike from going further down the side of the mountain.
The trail itself wasn't super steep but it was going considerably down the entire time. And off to the side of the trail it was very steep as you might be able to tell in this picture.
Well, down is better than up for me - but since this wasn't a loop trail we had to go back up the same way we came at some time. I really wanted the dogs to get a nice long hike in so I kept trying to go. But after only half an hour I asked Mike if he had a helicopter waiting below to take me back up. Nope - no such luck. So we had to turn around and go back. The dogs weren't at all happy about this. The trip that took 30 minutes going down took an hour and 15 minutes going back up. I really love hiking but I get so irritated at my circumstances on every hike. I used to be first up the hill and first down the hill no matter how steep the hike was. And I could go longer than anyone before getting tired. It's so very frustrating.
The hike was okay and had a couple little scenic spots but it wasn't all that exciting of a trail. Here are some of the different views we had along the trail.
It was interesting to see how different the scenery was in just the short distance that we went.
Both going down and back up the trail, the dogs all loved jumping up on this huge stump. The three big dogs all just wanted to look out at the scenery. Boogie didn't quite understand what you were supposed to do on the stump but he enjoyed getting on and off the stump.
Through the twigs here you can see a cliff in the background. The trail goes right by that cliff. We were very careful to make sure Boogie was on leash around that section. (Slugger was on leash the entire time.) All we had to do was tell the girls to stay on the trail. They are really great hikers - they know all the rules.
I had to stop often on the way up. During one stop I happened to glance up in the tree just in time to see this Phainopepla land. I guess going slow does have some advantages.
After finishing the first hike, we really needed to stay up in the mountains so we decided to look for a trail that might be a little more flat - kind of hard to find in the mountains sometimes. We found one trail called Marshall Gulch. We figured something name "gulch" might be flat. They had signs to the parking lot but once you got there, no more signs were found. We couldn't even see anything that looked like a trail.
The dogs were hot and we saw a little creek so we decided we'd just go down there so they could get a drink and get their feet wet. We just kept following the water. We had to criss cross back and forth across the water but it wasn't so hard as there seemed to be just enough stepping stones in the right places.
After we'd gone down the creek quite a ways we saw what we thought might be a trail. Sure enough, we found the trail. That's the most odd beginning to a trail we've ever encountered - up a creek and no signs. Oh well, it was fun and the dogs enjoyed getting wet.
The trail was fairly flat - there were only a few places where we had to go up or down. We really were walking on a fairly flat trail yet the creek very quickly was WAY down below us. And we were really high. I'm not sure how that worked but it was pretty cool. The view from as high as we went was very pretty.
The trail went 14 miles but we probably only went a couple miles. Mike says that when they hike without me they go about three miles an hour, whereas with me along they only make about one mile an hour. Oh well, I don't think Sparkie really cares as she is off running here and there the whole time anyway. You can probably tell from all the pictures that I always bring up the rear.
Slugger on the other hand seems to like it when I'm along. That means he gets to sit and stare at the world while waiting for me to catch up. If he had his way, he would have stayed sitting in this one place for hours. He was on top of a rock cliff and could see out over the world a long ways. The picture probably isn't big enough on your screen for you to see this but there is something very interesting in this picture. There were a lot of very pretty butterflies on this hike. But they would flit around and I could never capture them in a picture. Slugger was sitting here resting for quite some time. Just before we decided to move on I snapped this picture. When I got home and was looking at this picture, I noticed there is an orange butterfly sitting on the rock right between Mike and Slugger. I guess the butterfly thought the view from here was pretty too.
Wazzu doesn't like me to get too far behind so she always waits for me - in the shade if at all possible. When I came around the corner I found her waiting under this little overhang. What a smart girl.
Most of the hike there weren't many trees near us at all as we were on top of rock cliffs. This looked more striking in person but thought I'd include it anyway.
Much of the time we were hiking on rock right next to cliffs. I think you may be able to get an idea of what I mean by looking at this picture.
Boogie has no fear and thinks he is quite the rock climber as well. Even though he minds pretty well, his recall isn't as good as it used to be. It's still better than most dogs but not the "turn on a dime always" like it used to be. He had to be on leash some of this hike but was off when it was safe.
One thing Mike and I both found very interesting on this hike was the rock. It was a sunny day and as you hike along it looked that there was broken glass all over the trail. But there was so much of it the entire way, we knew it couldn't be glass. Most of the "pieces" looked really small but there were some large spots on some of the rocks. After closer investigation it looked like quartz.
We didn't see many flowers but I did take a picture of a couple that saw. Sorry, but I have no idea what kind of flower this is.
Another coincidence in this picture. I was just trying to get a close up picture of these flowers. Again, it wasn't until I got home that I realized I captured more than I had meant to capture. If you look in the middle of one of the flowers you'll notice a bee.
By the time we finished hiking, it was well past lunch time. We figured we'd just have a granola bar as we always keep a box of those in the car as well as a case of water - just for times like these. But, oops, the box was empty. So we decided we'd just eat at the first place we could find.
Just as we started driving a HUGE squirrel hopped across the road and stopped on the side. This squirrel was nothing like we'd ever seen before. Besides being what seemed like three or four times the size of a normal squirrel, this guy had ears like a chihuahua. Unfortunately, from the back of the car I couldn't get a picture. Mike looked it up in his book while we were sitting there watching it. It is an Abert's squirrel. Slugger was so cute. As always, he was watching out the window - in fact he was the first one to see it. He didn't make a peep - he just licked his lips really loud the whole time we were watching the squirrel.
Much to our surprise as we continued down the road, there was one little restaurant less than a mile away. We figured anything with the name of "The Cookie Cabin" must be good!
The inside of this log cabin is very homey. Even though it was our first time there, we felt quite at home there. Everyone inside (customers and employees) made you feel like you'd just come home to family after being gone for months. It was really nice. You order from the very nice manager at the counter located under the staircase. They only sell three things - pizza, chili, and cookies. What more could you need! I should have taken a picture of the cookies. There are seven different kinds but only one size. No kidding - they were as big as a dinner plate! I had one called a Rachel. It was oatmeal, coconut, and butterscotch chips. It was so good! Of course, I still have a lot of it left over. Darn, I should have taken a picture of the cookies!
Mike ordered the chili and sat outside on the deck and ate it while I waited in the car with the dogs while my pizza was baking. Both of us totally enjoyed our meal. I don't know that we'll ever be in that area again, but if we are we will certainly eat there again!
What a gem we found in the middle of the forest. As you may have noticed in the above picture, they have a sign on the outside that says "State Farm is NOT a good neighbor." When we were hiking, we noticed that a lot of the trees were burnt. It turns out there was a fire here six or seven years ago. A lot of the forest burnt as well as a number of houses/businesses.
The Cookie Cabin burnt to the ground. While they were very disappointed, they knew they would be able to rebuild as they had purchased Replacement Coverage Insurance in case of this situation. However, State Farm only paid half of what it cost to rebuild - even though it cost less than the estimated replacement cost. They are near the end of a long court battle. In fact, the case is to be decided on Friday.
We were excited to get back as we figured the RV would finally be fixed. Well, they did indeed find the problem. A hose seems to be leaking and needs to be replaced. The only problem is that to get to the hose they have to take out the gas tank! This is a full day job. Oh no. And wouldn't you know, we had just filled up with gas. I sure hope we get all that gas back.
This news was really bad for two reasons. It means another full day of having to be gone from the RV. It also means this is getting more expensive all the time. Tomorrow will be day three and at $115 an hour this is adding up fast. They said the hose itself is only $20. Big sigh.
Debbie
11/14/07
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