A while back, Greg and I went for a hike up north. This one is near Payson and I discovered it a few months ago when it was still HOT outside. There's a lot of water and there are WATERFALLS!
First, of course, we needed to give Clarabelle some fuel so she could make it up the mountains. The gas station has a pretty view of these palm trees and the beautiful clear blue sky.
Don't worry: there are plenty of runaway truck ramps in case your truck tries to run away!
The views are beautiful in spite of the burned areas.
It's a good idea to stop at the gas station in Payson for a potty break because the "toilet" at the trailhead is a hole in the ground with a toilet seat on it. Ew. But useful when necessary.
That water tower up on the hill says "Payson".
There were interesting and slightly nerve-wracking signs up warning us about BEARS (we did NOT feed them) . . .
and flash floods. My Physical Therapist told me something about a whole family having died, so I looked it up, and it was almost true. Most of the members of a large hiking party did die up there a few years ago during a flash flood. So now ANY RAIN and I will be climbing up as high as I can get to escape the swell of scary water and tree branches that come rushing down the gorge. But that didn't need to happen on this day; we just had a nice happy hike.
They also reminded us to make sure all fires were OUT. Huge swaths of desert burned this past summer. Seeing the dead and charred saguaros is very sad; they take hundreds of years to grow! We did NOT start a fire.
The parking lot was almost empty, and the slot for payment was closed up. The creek is RIGHT THERE off the parking lot!
There was a place for information, but there was no information!
We walked a bit and came to the gorge and the river!
I guess some people rappel here . . . ?
I wouldn't want to.
The water was beautiful and clear.
We climbed up farther.
Gorge-eous!
Some little puddles were frozen solid!
Parts of the river were FROZEN!
Look at the end of the stick, covered in ice!
To get to the bigger waterfall at the end of the trail, we needed to cross the river:
Should I cross here? Um . . . no.
Greg crossed a little further upstream, and I decided his way was better on the way back.
Then there's a plain filled with criss-crossing little streams. This day, many of them were partially frozen!
We found friends in amongst the trees!
They walked away, slowly munching on dry grasses, when they saw us.
The leaves had fallen and the scenery was autumnal.
There's the tallest waterfall!
It flowed into a bit of a small lake.
The icicles made us happy! We don't see them very often!
The water frozen in intricate patterns.
Here's Greg being weird:
At this point we were getting pretty chilly, so we decided to head back.
I also decided to switch hats so my ears would be warmer!
On the way out, we saw a sign . . .
It didn't have anything on it!
Here's a tree with a wonderful pretty root structure:
And then we crossed the river again.
We enjoyed a scenic drive home and then dinner with cat snuggles.
On the way home, we saw the Weaver's Needle!
Greg got a great shot of it:
What a lovely day!
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