Superbloom: Sojourn: Days 17-30, March 30

Here we are in the Tonto Basin of Arizona, and Spring has FINALLY arrived, in the form of a superbloom of Poppies. First one in years, apparently, but entire mountainsides have erupted in brilliant orange. My photos can’t do them justice.

We’ve spent these past 3+ weeks enjoying warming weather, blue skies (mostly) and wonderful hikes. We’ve been walking miles most days, getting into better shape, up and down the Superstition Mountains, Salome Wilderness, the Sierra Ancha Wilderness, the Four Peaks Wilderness, and the Mazatzal Wilderness. L, our granddaughter, joined us for a week, which was the highpoint of our trip so far. We geared up and backpacked the Arizona Trail for a few days into the Superstition Wilderness, which was stunning and very challenging: up a 1000 feet, down a 1000 feet, repeat. With little water, lots of prickly cacti, and hardly any flat spots to camp. Beautiful, though! We will definitely return for more.

The first night we dry-camped on a windy ridge, in a tiny spot covered with old cow poo, but with an amazing view. The second night, our campsite was at a beautiful no-name creek with lots of water and a big flat spot. We did Yoga there.

As most people know, I love backpacking, and was pleased that I didn’t have any problem carrying 30 pounds (including water) up and down these challenging mountains. All our gear worked. There were light freezes at night, but the days hit the upper 60s. In the end, it was Zane Gray who struggled the most: the hard hike seemed to re-injure his neck sprain, so we turned back early.

We visited the Tonto National Monument Cliff Dwellings, which involved about a 1 mile climb up a nice walkway, and a small but lovely ruins complex. Roosevelt Lake is in the background in the picture. I’d like to return for the guided hike up to the larger ruins…maybe next trip.

We’ve been staying at the Chollo Campground here at the lake, rather than boondocking, since there’s been lots of very strong winds ( 70mph gusts) up on the cliffs where we were camping earlier. Also, both Tonto Creek and the Salt River which feed this reservoir are in full flood stage, and some bridges and roads are impassable. It hasn’t been this wet in something like 15 years. Many of the routes we had considered for backpacking were too muddy, washed out, flooding or inaccessible by car right now. It was a puzzle figuring out where we could safely travel.

Our plans have changed. Alan’s mom is in the hospital, so we are headed to Denver tomorrow, instead of to Texas. We’ll camp at a big campground at one of the reservoirs there. I’ll write again from the big city.