Day 3... Warming up...

Finally... the sun came out in Arizona!!
This meant that we could go for a hike ... Woohooooo! Up early ( due to jet lag) ... we got ourselves kitted up and headed out into the desert. Hands up who wants to climb that mountain.... yay.... hmmmm ... okay perhaps not. The peaks were still covered in a grey looking cloud  ... not to mention that the peak I was looking at was apparently pretty steep. Perhaps not best for a warm up. So at Louize's suggestion, we headed over to the Dixie Mine trail, a meandering through the desert kinda trail. The cactus that grow here, seguaro (guessing on the spelling) only grows in the Sonoran desert and are a protected species. So much so that if they want to build a road they have to uproot the cactus and replant them at the side of  the road.

The desert, usually dry and dusty and devoid of greenery had started springing to life with grasses, and even flowers appearing amidst the stones. The washes, usually parched were running with water, due to the huge amount which had dumped down in such a short space of time. The air felt clean and clear and I finally felt the weight and stresses of normal life just fall away.

At one point Mark stopped to point out some paw prints in the soft earth of the trail on the edge of a puddle.... definitely had claws... bobcat!!!

We got to the point of the trail where we branched off to the mine, only the trail had disappeared somewhat. The path had been washed away and trees and bushes overhung the trail. Oh well. For once it was not me that led the pink alpine elephant search as we ducked under branches and were careful of our foot placement in case a Mojave or diamond back rattlesnake had decided to seek shelter there.

We wound our way up.. past the gated off mine entrance (couldn't't explore further there) and then came to some rocks which provided a bit of a scramble up. The reason for persevering up was to catch sight of the petroglyphs that had been carved into the rock above.

The petroglyphs are carved by removing a thin covering of black stuff on the rock (Mark Evans, can you remind me what the black stuff is). The symbols carved relate to nature, water, earth, fire.... carved by native miners. (At least that's what I remembered). We then started clambering up the rocks to try and reach another path that would loop round and back but because of the rains the rocks were extremely slippery and we all decided that in this case discretion would be the better part of valour. So we fought our way through the undergrowth and storm debris  back to the path and a short walk later we found ourselves at the bottom of another mine entrance. Of course I had to climb up and so we found a way up the shale through the cactus to the shaft that penetrated deep down into the ground. I couldn't see the bottom of it through the grate covering it.

Noticing that the black clouds were once again gathering over the peaks, we headed back to the trailhead. A few miles under the belt... a warm up for the hikes to come... and a reminder of why Arizona is one of my favourite states!

Just as we were driving out of the trailhead car park... a shout of Tarantula came from Mark and as the car screeched to a halt... I jumped out hoping he would stay still enough for a photo....

He did..... (photo on www.facebook.com/OneChallengeAtATime)

Made my day properly complete!!

We headed back to chill out for a few hours before it was time to go to the hotel to meet up with the other trekkers from LHS.


The few hours passed pretty quickly... sitting in Louize and Mark's back garden watching the hummingbirds flit in and out the trees and looking at the video of the bobcat climbing down from their neighbour's tree. The bobcat, which I had previously though of a small sleek animal, much like a house cat, was actually a large powerfully stocky animal that you hesitate to stare down!

We set off for the hotel, with one small detour, to an outdoors store that sold everything. I was promised a spectacle... and I wasn't disappointed.
The entrance was flanked by dead animals... a bison head on the left, a big elk on the right. Wonder past all the horribleness and I was transported into my version of shopping heaven. Outdoor clothes, equipment, huge boats, ATV'S...

And then upstairs past the grizzly bear into a world of weapons... rifles... crossbows... pistols. Just unbelievable... at least to a British person.

Jules Peters did want us to bring along something pink..... what about a cute little pink handbag pistol??? No??? Not appropriate.... ??? Oh well!!


All too soon my time with Louize and Mark was done and a new chapter of this week beginning... they dropped me off at the hotel to wait for everyone's arrival and left with a smile, a wave and probably a sigh of relief. Until next random meeting guys... thanks for putting me up at short notice!

And so I sat in the lobby waiting, wondering what the days ahead would hold. New friends, great sights, some good walks, fantastic music were all a certainty I was sure!