Wednesday, March 17, 2010

HIKING UP SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN

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IT WAS A COLORFUL BUNCH OF HIKERS ON THE TRAIL TODAY

We had a few reminders Monday night of why we avoid RV Parks if we can.  We are parked close to the overflow area & there were some kids in there last night with a boom box & heavy metal music.  Not nice!!  We have a big Class A parked across the park road from us & I figure they are big city folks.   I had set up my telescope outside before it got dark figuring on having a look at the night sky later.  Well, that was not to be.  The Class A had fired up his big 29 million watt security light & totally flooded our whole area with blinding light.  The rest of the park was in quiet darkness but this guy left that light on all night & I was afraid it would peel all the paint right off our RV.  Guess they were afraid of the dark & figured robbers would be surrounding their rig at any second.   They probably live in a big city where big security lights are the order of the day.  Moved my telescope around to the other side of our RV but was disappointed again.  Pretty much the whole western sky was wiped out because of light pollution coming up & out of Phoenix.  I just quietly packed my telescope away & that was that.  Yep, just give us the good old peaceful sanctity of the star studded black desert night sky any day.

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EARLY MORNING SUNRISE IN THE PARK

Now, I'm not complaining about the LOST DUTCHMAN STATE PARK.  It's a nice State Park.  It's just the usual complaints I have wherever there is a gathering of people or whenever we are in a large people infested area!!  And here' a bit of sad news......This Park will be closing in early June.  Other Arizona State Parks will be closing as well.  They are already in the process of closing roadside Rest Areas.  It's quite a degenerating society we live in these days but I'm not going to throw my 2 cents worth in or I'll be sitting here ranting all night long about this whole social dilemma!!

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KELLY TRYS TO PULL A CACTUS THORN OUT OF MOTORMOUSE'S PAW & SHE IS NOT A HAPPY LITTLE CAMPER ABOUT IT

We decided to do one of the Park's trails today so picked an easy one heading up Superstition Mountain then cutting across & coming back down again.  Not a long hike so I didn't bother with my hiking boots.  Climbed aboard the Siphon Trail at 8:45 a.m. & an hour later we had once again deviated from our planned hike & climbed a tough one thousand feet to within a thousand feet of the summit.  We always seem to have a habit of doing that.  Oh well, we do the same thing on the road as well.  It's just us!!  Turned out to be a busy trail on the way up & we got in behind a group of hikers.  I had been hoping for a quiet morning trail but it just didn't end up that way.  Oh well, I'm not the only one in this world I guess:))

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TRAIL STARTS OUT QUIET BUT SOON A WHOLE GAGGLE OF PEOPLE CATCH UP TO US AS KELLY FIELDS A DEERPARK LODGE CALL.

I won't try to describe what a beautiful morning it was or how spectacular the panoramic views were.  Hopefully some of my photos will do that for me.  I can tell you that by the time we got back down off the mountain three & a half hours later we were too very tired, & sore, RV'ers.  Legs were rubbery, knees were barking & the bottoms of my feet felt a bit tender from all the rocks along the trail.  Remember I just had my old comfy shoe laceless running shoes on.  It was a morning of wonderment, & a morning of reminders of how truly fortunate people we are.

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(click pics to enlarge)

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the RV just relaxing our tired muscles.  It was one of those rare afternoons when I wished we had one them there fangled hot tub thingys.  Managed to catch up on a few blogs between dozes & we renewed our stay here for a couple more days.  We don't eat out a lot but today we decided to head on down the road to a place called, Filly's for supper.  Had heard some good things about it.   Turned out it's just a popular local Roadhouse & we felt the OK food was overpriced.  I don't really much care for bar food.  We both had chicken & ribs.  Tomorrow night we plan on checking out another place called, The Mining Camp Restaurant.  Drove by it on the way back & it looks groovy:))

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MET THIS COUPLE FROM BAYFIELD ON THE TRAIL............BAYFIELD, WISCONSIN THAT IS:))

Also tomorrow we plan to give our tired muscles a break & take a long driving tour along the APACHE TRAIL.  Our friends Mike & Maureen did this trip a couple years ago & it took them about 5 hours.   It is a 120 mile loop highway that promises winding mountain roads & spectacular vistas, with  lakes, a dam, & historic stops along the way.

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We have 4 green bars on our Verizon connection here but the signal is weak & keeps dropping us.  Took me slightly over 2 hours to publish last night's blog.  I had to keep re-connecting.  Our Skype has not worked well either so haven't made any phone calls.  Because of the many pictures I took today I will attempt to upload them into a web album.  It's 7 o'clock right now & I haven't even begun to dig the pictures out of the cameras so I had better get rolling if I want to get to bed by midnight.  Ohhhhh, I need a holiday...............

To see all of today's photos go to our PICASA WEB ALBUM

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GROANER'S CORNER:((  And a woman once said, "Men are like a fine wine.  They all start out like
grapes, and it's our job to stomp on them and
keep them in the dark until they mature into
something you'd want to have dinner with."

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

11 comments:

  1. You might want to take the rig, there are some great camping spots along the route you are taking today--especially at Roosevelt Lake.

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  2. Holy Cow that was a lot of people on that trail. Sorry you couldn't stargaze last night. Sad to learn some of the State Parks in AZ will be closing. :(

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  3. EVen us more citifed folks from Benson wouldn't be happy with the boombox and the bright security light. Bet those folks also had a washer and dryer as well a a fireplace in their rig. Maybe even mirrors on the ceiling!

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  4. Great pictures Al, looks like you and Kelly sure had a great day. I know you're going to love the Apache Trail. Paulette and I did that trip a few years ago. Lot's of great photo ops so I expect we'll be seeing a lot of terrific pics over the next few days!

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  5. I noticed when I drove west from Savannah that many states have closed rest areas. I believe that as a safety matter, they are going to pay more in the long run. You can't drive very many hours at 75 mph without needing a break to stretch your legs and wake yourself up.

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  6. Bummer on the light pollution guy. We have either contacted staff if available to ask for them to rectify it, or else leave a note taped to their door saying: YOUR LIGHTS WERE ON ALL NIGHT, AND THEY DO BOTHER YOUR NEIGHBORS. Just to the point, and no signature.

    Some folks just need a little education, ya know?

    Amazing that many people out on the trail--- I don't think my ideal nature walk would be having to watch some strangers butt right in front of me! LOL

    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  7. If you like Pizza try Fatman's, it is close and an interesting place.

    http://johnbrendasincredibleadventure.blogspot.com/2009/02/fatmans-pizza-grill.html

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  8. I hate to sound naive, but why are they closing the state parks? It seems to me that there would be more people travelling on the ground or living in their RV than ever? Am I wrong?

    Im sad to hear that, we haven't had a chance to start our adventure and we drool over the photos you provide and plan along the same route so that we can enjoy those areas too.

    Thanks for sharing, as usual great photos!!!

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  9. California is closing SP to save money. The ones that are still open have raised rates. I read just this morning that the rate to dump went fron $20 up to $25 at one SP here in sothern California..

    Great pics Al So glad you folks are having a great time
    Rojo

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  10. Enjoy your daytrip! That should provide lots of neat pictures...but PLEASE don't take your rig on that route...those pictures would be SCARY! If you head North towards the Verde Valley, we still have Dead Horse State Park open! For those wondering, Arizona's legislature has their heads places the sun don't shine...thus the state parks closing and schools losing funding.

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