Since it had been so hot during our last hike, we decided to head up north to the Verde Valley, to hike the Parsons Trail #144, in the Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Area.  This was a trail that we had done only once before, in April 2000, when I was six months pregnant with Mary; the trail, as we had found back then, was very easy - it would be just the perfect trail for Mary to hike.

Of course, we thought the same thing about the West Pinto Trail #212 last month, and we all know now what a difference five years can make...

We decided to get an early start that morning, so we picked John's parents up at their house at 7:00 a.m. on the dot.  After stopping for gas and snacks at the QT, we then made our way out to I-17, to begin our long drive north to Camp Verde.

The drive was, for the most part, uneventful but certainly comfortable, mainly due to the fact that we were driving a rented 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee.  Our Jeep was still sitting at the auto body shop, where it was being repaired after John's fender-bender on April 1.  When he went to pick up his rental, he explained to the representative that he needed an equivalent vehicle to his own Jeep, because of the fact that we do a lot of hiking.  The representative assured him that she could help him out...and she managed to hook him up with that new Jeep.  Although it was not as rugged as our own Jeep Grand Cherokee, we did at least have a comfortable ride...and four wheel drive, too.

We arrived at the Parsons Trailhead around 9:30 that morning and started hiking just a short time later, as soon as we were all geared up and sunscreened. 

From the trailhead, the Parsons Trail #144 drops immediately, descending about 200 feet over the first quarter mile of the trail.  This is the most difficult part of the trail...in fact, it is the only difficult part of the trail, and it is over just as quickly as it starts.  In just a few minutes, we were at the bottom of the canyon, at Sycamore Creek.

The first mile of the trail was just as we remembered it: a flat, beautiful hike through Sycamore Canyon, next to Sycamore Creek.  Just as it had been five years ago, the trail was very green, with lots of tall grass and many wildflowers to be found.  In fact, I think that there were more wildflowers this time, because I don't remembering seeing whole hillsides covered with bright red Indian paintbrushes the last time we were there! 

Another thing that was exactly the same during that first mile was Sycamore Creek.  At one point, the trail meanders close to the creek without actually crossing it; this part of the trail is one of the prettiest.  It was an ideal spot for us to take a group picture, using the timer on the camera, because the spot was just perfect.

We took our first break at Summer Spring, at about one mile from the trailhead.  Summer Spring was another place that had not changed since our last visit - it was still cool and shaded...a perfect place for a quick break.

After our break, however, things got interesting...

We had just been through one of the wettest winters in seven years, and as a result, many of the creeks and rivers had flooded in Arizona.  Residents along Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona, for example, had been forced to evacuate from their homes, as Oak Creek swelled some sixteen feet above normal. 

It was obvious that Sycamore Creek, too, had swelled like Oak Creek, because the once easy creek crossings were not so easy anymore.

Much of the riparian foliage within Sycamore Creek had been swept down by the flooding, leaving the trail full of debris and very difficult to follow.  It was for that reason that we got lost at the first creek crossing.  And we weren't the only ones who got lost; a couple visiting from back east also missed the creek crossing and continued hiking along the dirt trail until they reached a dead end.  We all returned to the creek and searched once again for that creek crossing. 

Erika soon spotted the cairn on the other side of the creek, so we knew that we were on the right path...but how to get across?  More importantly, how would we get across with the four year old?  It was not easy, and those of us wearing jeans (myself, Erika and Bill), as well as those of us wearing sweatpants (John) all got wet!  Mary was carried across the creek in order to keep her dry, but John found that he had to put her down just to maneuver through the downed trees along the creek!  And then, after getting Mary across the creek to the other side, he had to come back and help me and Erika cross, too!

After that difficult creek crossing, the trail became easy again, as it entered into another beautiful part of the canyon.  Here, the canyon walls looked as though they had been sheered off by bear's claws, which was something I had not noticed before.  We also found more and more wildflowers, including more of the bright red Indian paintbrushes that were so beautiful that we had to take Mary's picture in them.

Not even a quarter of a mile later, we came to the second creek crossing...and that was when the couple from back east decided to turn around and leave.  But not us...we are Verleys after all, and we just don't quit, not when the trail gets too rough.  Once again, we plowed through the creek crossing, navigating through downed trees and treading through cold, knee-deep water.  And once again, we made it to the other side of the creek without incident.

As we reached the other side of the creek, we found the first of several popular swimming holes along Sycamore Creek.  Though unoccupied now, those swimming holes, during warmer weather, are usually filled with, jumping off of the rock shelf into the beautiful creek below.  It was definitely one of the prettier swimming holes - I'm sure that someday, we'll come back to take a dip there, too.

We continued along the trail as it meandered along the ridgeline overlooking Sycamore Creek over the next three-quarters of a mile.  Then, at exactly two miles, we came to the next big swimming hole, at one of my favorite parts of the trail.  Here, the trail followed along a rocky ledge, right next to the creek.  Shadowed by the tall walls of the canyon, it made a nice, shady spot for us to have our lunch break.

We ate our sandwiches and relaxed at the rocky ledge.  While we were there, John did some rock-climbing, too, to check out the hedgehog cactus in bloom on top of a rock shelf above us.  He then scouted out the trail ahead of us to determine if we were going to go any further, or if we were going to turn back.  When he returned, he reported that we were going to turn back there, because up ahead, the rock ledge had washed away, meaning that we would have to hike in the water. 

After lunch, we started our return hike to the trailhead.  Along the way, we played games with Mary to keep her motivated to hike, because she usually starts to fade after lunch.  The game that she loved to play was called "Beep Beep, Out of the Way", in which she and Erika would run up to the "line-leader", smack him or her on the butt, and say "Beep, beep, out of the way!"  They did it to Bill first, then to John, but when they got to me, I, of course, made it difficult for them but hiking faster every time they caught up to me.  I found that it kept the game interesting, but after the second time she missed me, she became determined to catch me!

Our creek crossings were not any easier the second time around.  The first crossing, at the swimming hole, was easy enough, because we managed to find a path with the fewest blown-down trees; but at the second crossing, we found that the debris was bad no matter which way we went.  As John helped Mary, Erika, and I across the creek (Bill went another way), John remarked that he felt like Charon, a character from Dante's Inferno.  Charon is the creature that transports the damned across the river Styx; John didn't feel that his role was any different.

We completed the four-mile day around 1:30 p.m., after climbing up that last 200 foot hill.  Wet and muddy, we all piled into the rental Jeep and drove away.

On the way home, while Mary slept between Bill and Erika in the backseat, John suggested that we take a scenic route home.  His parents had never taken Cherry Road all the way through, so we thought that we would take them on a little scenic drive.  John and I had done Cherry Road before, in my Oldsmobile, when I was several months pregnant with Mary.  It was one of those unforgettable adventures; about halfway down Cherry Road, several miles out of the town of Cherry, the Oldsmobile stalled on us and did so a number of times.  It turned out that we had blown three of the fuel injectors (that was an expensive repair!). 

The drive along Cherry Road is a scenic one; the road passes through the quaint little community of Cherry, a clean, pretty little town that reminds me a lot of Paradise.  Although most of Cherry looked exactly the same as it had five years ago, we did find there was some flood damage done to one of the ranches, as well as the road.

Cherry Road ended at SR 169, and from there, we drove back to I-17 and headed home.  That evening, to celebrate the end of a fine day of hiking, we invited Bill and Erika over for dinner, and John prepared a fantastic meal for us to enjoy.  What a way to end a great adventure. 

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