Ha, yes, another post, but this time, a really short one. My SAT (self-appointed trainer, a.k.a., my husband) and I decided (needed?) to escape the Phoenix heat by driving to Horton Creek and doing a little hike. Horton Creek is about 20 minutes north of Payson and is high enough in elevation to bring welcome relief to those who suffer in Phoenix during the summer. It’s easy to get to the trailhead; type in “Horton Creek trailhead” into your GPS and drive about 2 hours. The trailhead is well-signed and has an outhouse. (Click here for an interesting article on the hike and the history behind it.)
The trail itself follows the creek and ends at Horton Springs, which is really lovely to see in the middle of summer. For those who are adventurous and do not mind bushwhacking and extreme elevation gain, you can hike another mile past the springs all the way up to the Mogollon Rim. Although we chose not to do that today, our hike was still about 8 miles with almost 1,500 feet of gain. That may sound impressive, but the trail is pretty gentle and hardly felt like we were hiking uphill! We had lots of shade because we were hiking in a forest and the cooling effect of the creek and springs was very enjoyable. (FYI, if we had hiked all the way up to the Rim, we would have hiked about 9 miles and climbed about 2,450 feet!)
We’ll be back to enjoy the springs again….and maybe climb all the way up to the Rim!
Trees!An example of the wildflowers we saw.Much of the trail was like this.Horton Springs.More wildflowers.Butterfly!Happy to be out of the heat!
Well, as the title of this blog post suggests, I am surprised by how quickly this year is whizzing by! As I was looking at my calendar, I realized that I haven’t updated this blog in a couple of months. So, per usual, I will write yet another “catch up” post. 🙂
In May, a few friends and I hiked Picacho Peak north of Tucson. The last time I hiked Picacho was 9 years ago (see this post). The hike statistics have not changed, but what I CAN say is that the hike is mostly in shade! When I went 9 years ago, it was in early February and maybe the angle of the sun was such that the hike was not shaded then? I still enjoyed the cables and I greatly appreciated the company. After the hike, we made a detour and headed to the Tucson Art Museum‘s cafe to have some lunch and take home some AMAZING cake. It was SO GOOD. Well worth the detour!
Ready to tackle Picacho Peak!The view partway up the trail.Look how far we’ve come so far!A well-placed sign, in case we forgot which way to go.The trail gets pretty steep.Pretty desert landscape.I really did like the cables!There were also a few bridges.At the top!About to head back down.THIS CAKE IS SO GOOD!
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I hadn’t planned on any trips in June, but when my friend Vicki asked if I wanted to join her for a spontaneous weekend of downhill mountain biking at Angel Fire Bike Park, I said YES. Although the drive to Angelfire, NM is more than 9 hours, we easily did it in a day and we talked THE ENTIRE TIME. I am not exaggerating. I’m surprised my voice survived. The weather was lovely and we planned on 2 days of riding. Day 1 was great, despite my dumb little crash right after getting off the chair lift. It was really dumb….I slid out on some loose rock and fell on my face. Luckily, I was wearing my full face helmet, which did its job. We met up for dinner with some friends of Vicki’s and then I went to bed because I was tired! When we got to the lift the next morning, we quickly learned that the lift was out of service and there would be no riding that day. The resort was issuing refunds and we were scrambling to find something else to do. Apparently, there was a mechanical issue with the lift and the resort had to order parts that would not arrive for another week or so. Bummer! Our plan B was to drive to the nearby tourist town of Red River, have lunch at the brewery, walk around, and do some go-carting! Not a bad alternative. I still enjoyed getting out of the Phoenix heat, so overall, the weekend was still a win.
Can you tell these bikes belong to girls?Vicki and I about to get on the chairlift.Obligatory photo with my bike (a.k.a., Sassy Cat).I had one very good strawberry margarita.Day 2: I just learned the lift is out of service. No riding today.Lunch at Red River Brewery.The town park.Cute little ice cream and burger joint.Most of Vicki’s friends drove up together and got “party shirts” to wear while riding! This is the group after go-carting.OK, got it. Not going to go crazy while driving my go-cart!On the drive back to Phoenix, we stopped in Taos for some coffee. The coffee shop was right in front of a community garden.My chai latte was good!The gate to the community garden space.Lots of murals surrounding the garden.Good reminder.
————————————————*****————————————————Last weekend, I got to check out a new fun trail near Flagstaff called Full Sail. It’s a flowy downhill trail that looks and feels like a bike park trail. It’s smooth with great berms and lots of opportunities for jumps. However, in order to get to that fun downhill trail, we had to climb 8 miles! To be honest, the climbing wasn’t that bad, especially since we had some cloud cover. It’s been super hot in Phoenix because….it’s summer….so we were soaking in the cooler temperatures and reveling in the cool, overcast temperatures! I definitely plan on going back to Flagstaff and riding that Full Sail trail again…and again! Hope you all are enjoying your respective summers!
My Sassy Cat found a skull!!Gladys striking a pose.A pretty flower.Beautiful forest.Our little group before we started the downhill fun.Wheeee!We all got pretty dusty and dirty.Our bikes got dirty too!
reluctantroadie 