For Mother's Day this year, we had to catch John in between business trips to do something special.  He had booked himself on back-to-back conferences in San Diego and would only be home from the first conference for about two and a half days in between before flying out for the second conference on Mother's Day. 

Since his time at home was limited, we didn't have time to go camping or backpacking.  So, I insisted that we go for a short day hike on Saturday, May 7 - the day before Mother's Day.  That was when John came up with a great idea for us.  It was a place that we had not visited in almost seven years, a place that Mary had not yet seen; and it was a hike listed in the Best Hikes with Children in Arizona book that Mary had given me for Mother's Day last year: Tonto Natural Bridge State Park.

The plan for the day, then, was to repeat the trip that we had done seven years ago: hike down the Gowan Trail to Pine Creek and follow the creek under the bridge to the waterfall.  With all of the boulder-hopping that would be involved, we knew that it would be an all-day hike as we would be going at the pace of a four year-old - but hopefully, we would have a lot of fun doing it.

We awoke early on Saturday morning, May 7, with every intention of leaving as early as possible.  While I got myself and Mary ready to go, John busied himself with prepping the Camelbaks for our hike.  He, of course, had a new Camelbak Blowfish that he had purchased with an REI gift certificate he had received from his boss.  I, however, was still using the old Blackburn Hydrapack that John had given to me on my birthday in 1998.  As he was filling the Hydrapack with water, John suddenly stopped what he was doing and grabbed Mary to usher her out of the room.  When they returned a few minutes later, they announced that they had Mother's Day presents for me.  One of my presents was in an REI bag...and it was exactly what I had asked for: a new Camelbak!  John and Mary had bought me an orange Camelbak M.U.L.E., with plenty of storage space for snacks and a 100 ounce bladder.  It was absolutely perfect!

Mary also gave me a coffee cup that she had put together at school - it was one of those clear plastic mugs that you can customize with pictures.  Mary's teacher had put in a lovely picture of Mary with a bouquet of roses, taped to the word "MOM", which Mary had colored.  I couldn't wait to have my first cup of coffee in it, because it was so wonderful!

"We weren't going to do these presents until tomorrow," John indicated, "but I suddenly realized that you could use this Camelbak today."  With that, he took the Camelbak and prepped it for the day's hike, filling the bladder with water and putting snacks and fruit into the pockets.

So, we didn't leave the house until 7:00 a.m., but after an uneventful ride into Payson, we made it to Tonto Natural Bridge State Park just before 9:00 a.m.  Upon arriving at the park, the first thing we did was introduce Mary to the road, because the road going into the park is just as fun.  It is a windy, twisty mountain road that descends steeply at a 13% grade towards the park entrance.  To get down the hill, we put the car into the lowest gear and coasted downhill, applying the brake only when necessary.  When we got to the bottom of the hill, our car did not smell of burning brakes; the other cars in the parking lot did.

We paid our entry fee inside of the ranger station, which is situated inside of a neatly groomed, Swiss-style cabin.  That was when we learned that part of the Gowan Trail - the leg of the trail that we had taken on our last trip there - was closed due to mudslides.  Instead, we would have to take the other leg of the Gowan Loop, which descended towards the bridge over a series of log steps built into the trail.  Mary counted them as we descended and we estimate that there were about 80 of them.  (It's hard to tell, though, because she kept losing count; that's what four year-olds do.)

It took us roughly fifteen minutes to descend the steps of the Gowan Trail and traverse the metal bridge that spans Pine Creek.  At the end of the Gowan Trail, we arrived on a platform, from which we could see just how immense the natural bridge was.  Even though I had seen Tonto Bridge before, I was still just amazed at its size and its beauty...and this time, there was even more to see!  Thanks to the wet winter, there were water was gushing off of the bridge onto the rocks below, and Pine Creek was flowing at its full capacity.  Everything was wet and slippery, and there was moss everywhere. 

That of course meant that passage under the bridge was going to be a bit more difficult than last time, especially with a four year-old in tow.  Now, the book warned us that, during periods of high water, it is not recommended that hikers take young children under the bridge.  Knowing Mary's abilities and her love of rock-climbing, however, we decided not to take that advice and proceed anyway.

After stopping to take pictures, we climbed off of the platform and stepped onto the Pine Creek Trail, whose path was marked by a series of brown arrow signs posted all over the place.  For the most part, passage through the tunnel was easy enough and involved very little rock climbing ability.  Soon, however, the arrows pointed us up and over a narrow rock ledge.  Holding Mary's hand as tightly as possible, John led Mary along the ledge without giving me a heart attack.  Upon reaching the other side of the ledge, we were all in the clear; we had successfully navigated through the most treacherous part of the hike.

As we reached the other side of the narrow ledge, we had emerged from underneath the bridge and were now beginning our boulder-hop up Pine Creek.  This part of the trail was slow going for us, but it was far from frustrating.  In fact, Mary was enjoying the opportunity to rock-climb across the boulders, so we didn't hear a single complaint for her at all.  For the most part, she required little help to scramble up the boulders; except for the occasional "butt-lift", she climbed up most of them on her own and enjoyed every minute of it.

Now, our plan had been to recreate the trip that we had done seven years ago; instead of finishing the hike up Pine Creek, we would climb up the waterfall and hike back to the parking lot on the Waterfall Trail.  It did not, however, work out that way.  We did find the waterfall along the way, but we were on the opposite side of the creek from it when we got there.  Rather than try to find a good route across the creek, we continued on upstream, in hopes that we would find a better way up to the Waterfall Trail somewhere down the line. 

We never did find a way up the waterfall; instead, we found the end of the trail, where Pine Creek made a horseshoe bend.  From there, the Pine Creek Trail left the creek and climbed gently uphill for a quarter of a mile and ended at the parking lot.  Along the way, we passed by two young couples who were on their way down to Pine Creek, and John and I couldn't help but laugh because the two young girls had brought their purses with them!  (It reminded us of a Bill Engvall comedy bit in which he talks about his wife taking her purse with her on a deer hunt.)

We made it to the end of the trail only an hour and a half after we had started - not bad at all, considering that we had planned for an all-day excursion.  So, since we had some time to kill, John suggested that we do he Waterfall Trail the way it was meant to be done.

The Waterfall Trail starts only a few feet from the Pine Creek Trail terminus; it begins as a gentle descent down a series of metal stairs then traverses a metal platform that ends at a chain that closes the waterfall off to visitors.  (It is meant to keep people off of the fragile foliage that lives off of the waterfall.)  Despite the closure, though, we were still able to enjoy the beauty and the tranquility of the waterfall - I thought of it as a wonderful Mother's Day present, to be able to enjoy it.

We hiked back out on the Waterfall Trail the way we had come; and on the way back to the car, we stopped at the port-a-potties to take care of some business before leaving the park.  While in the potty, I set my sunglasses down on top of the toilet paper holder...and that was where I left them!  It wasn't until we were back on the Beeline Highway that I remembered them, but by then, it was just too late to go back for them.

We decided to stop in Payson to have lunch.  Our first choice for lunch was, of course, Quizno's - our favorite sub shop - but that was when we learned that the Quizno's had been shut down.  Instead, we ate at Chili's and at least enjoyed a semi-healthy meal.  While we were there, John met the manager of the restaurant and learned that she was a distant Verley cousin - what are the odds?

After lunch, we began our drive home.  It had been an enjoyable day for all of us; in fact, it was one of the best Mother's Day gifts a mother could ever want!

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