The Savage Traveler: Out West Adventure: Part 1--Superstition Mountains

February 10-13: (Sunday) Today was an easy day of travel. We packed up and were on the road by mid-morning. Our route took us right past Casa Grande National Monument so we assumed we’d stop in to see it and get another Passport Stamp. However, there was a big Native American Music Festival today and everyone had to park across the highway and take a shuttle in to the park. It all seemed like too much of a production for us so we drove on to Lost Dutchman State Park, where we have a reservation for the next three nights. Once again our campsite is on the back of the farthest loop so the Superstition Mountains are the only thing behind our camper. Our loop has no electricity or water but it’s worth it for the view. And we can get by for several days with our battery if we give it a solar charge every day. After dropping off the camper (but not setting it up) we drove into Apache Junction to get some groceries, fill one propane tank, and mail Valentines to the grandkids. We returned later in the afternoon to set-up and I went to take a shower while Marv finished things up. The sunset was absolutely beautiful, reflecting off the mountains behind us. The temperature, which topped off about 61°, dropped quickly into the forties as we finished the Spanish Rice from the other night. It’s going to be a bit of a challenge to stay warm without the electric heater and electric blanket, but we do have a (very noisy) gas furnace that will help while we’re up and about. Lots of blankets and snuggling will hopefully get us through the night okay.

Superstition Mountains with the setting sun reflecting

Our campsite

Sunset in Superstition Mountains

(Monday) It got down to the upper thirties overnight and clouds moved in by morning. There were low clouds on the mountains outside our windows, spilling down the canyon, and as we were eating our oatmeal it began to drizzle lightly. This seemed like a good day to do laundry again so we headed into a Laundromat where we could do everything at once and had WiFi to boot. Laundry while traveling has become a whole lot easier than the olden days! As we finished the sun was peeking through occasionally, but it was still only in the low forties and a light drizzle stopped and started several times. We made a couple other short stops and then drove back to the campground to have soup, cheese, and crackers for lunch as the sun seemed to come out in earnest. But as we finished, the rain began again. We read for a while and put away the laundry and by 3:00 the rain stopped for good and a weak sun came out to stay. So we took a 45 minutes hike on nearby trails where we found that the rain had caused many of the ocotillo to begin leafing out. We got ready to drive 45 minutes or so to Tryn and Chris Clark’s house in Tempe for dinner. (On the way there we heard that the high today was 16 degrees below average!) Their daughter, Vicky, lives with them with her two kids, Isaac and Aviva. Their other daughter, Tryn Rose, lives in Scottsdale so she came down to join us, too. We had a lovely evening and a delicious dinner and got all caught up on each other’s families since they left East Lansing and Edgewood Church many years ago. After lingering and chatting over dessert we regretfully left them but took with us a copy of Tryn Rose’s book on a therapy technique she has developed for working with people with Alzheimer’s. It was in the high thirties when we got back to the camper to read and play games until bedtime.

Morning Fog

The last of the clouds

Saguaros in the Superstition Mountains

The mountains, all cleared off

Marv, Peggy,. Chris, Tryn, Aviva, Tryn Rose, Vicky

(Tuesday) This was just a fantastic day from beginning to end!!!!! After the coldest night thus far we woke to a heavy frost outside and ice on the inside of the window by our heads. Clouds, steam, and fog boiled around the top of the mountains and the ascending sun shone through in rays. It was stunning. The furnace ran for a full hour to bring the temperature up, turned off for a few minutes, ran for a few more minutes, and then turned off for good as the sun managed to keep the interior of the camper around 70°. We enjoyed fried eggs then had enough signal to employ our Hot Spot sufficiently for us both to read the Lansing State Journal on our tablets. As I finished Marv made turkey wraps and a bag of veggies for lunch and then we did all the dishes. By then it was warm enough outside for us to take our hike into the mountains. Leaving out the back of our campsite, we took the Siphon Draw Trail to Prospector’s View Trail. The elevation rose about 800 ft. as we climbed and we were plenty warm despite temperatures in the forties. When we got to the high point above Green Boulder we sat on a big rock to eat our lunch. The sun was shining brightly without a cloud in the sky and the view up there was amazing; we could see the big buildings of Phoenix about 40 miles away in the distance. The mountains of Tonto National Forest to the east were dusted with snow from yesterday’s precipitation. Everything around us, including fresh new grass, was green and some of the jojoba shrubs were beginning to burst with yellow blossoms. It gave a very different look to the Sonoran Desert! As we ate, we noticed some people hiking way above us towards a rock formation called The Praying Hands. Refreshed from our lunch break, we decided to follow them for a while. So we set off on an unmarked, unnamed, undeveloped trail that was steep and rocky and rose another 300 ft. We had seen many people on the other trails. We met only the same people we had followed as they came back down and then two other people climbing as we descended. We ended up going farther than we had planned, up to the point where we had a full view of the Praying Hands and the trail began to wrap around the north side of the mountains. It was really pretty up there and much colder; the rocks and grass still had frost on them! We turned around and took the path back down, meeting up with the wide, well traveled, Treasure Loop trail and then taking Jacob’s Crosscut Trail back across to the Siphon Draw Trail and back to our campsite. The whole thing took us over 3 hours, with stops for plenty of pictures and videos, and we walked 4.14 miles altogether. We took a short rest for a beer while sitting in the warm sun with the temperature about 55°. Then we changed clothes and drove to Aunt Mary and Uncle Don’s in Gold Canyon. After chatting for a bit Marv and I walked with Aunt Mary to their huge “Clubhouse” to look around and get her mail. They wanted to take us to a favorite spot of theirs for dinner. Aunt Mary drove us to Mesa to Pipe Organ Pizza, where they have good pizza and an amazing theater organ that rises out of the center of the floor and then slowly swivels back and forth while the organist plays a short set of pieces using an astounding mix of stops to play every instrument you can imagine, mounted all over the huge hall. It was really enjoyable and we sat through two full sets as we ate our salads and pizza. When we got back to their trailer we checked to see if the MSU/um basketball game was over and were thrilled to find that it had just started. So we all had ice cream and watched #8 MSU completely annihilate the #4 (and past #1 ranked) team in the nation. As the announcer said, “It was wire to wire Sparty’s Party!” What a thrill!! Then Aunt Mary sent us home with a dozen fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and the rest of the pizza. Is that a great Aunt or What?!?! On the way back a small fox dashed across the road in front of us, the only real wildlife we had seen since Marv saw two little jack rabbits outside the camper in the morning. The camper was down to 40° but we got it warmed up to do a few things before we went to bed, tired but very happy with the day.