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Since it had been a while since John and I had done any
backpacking, we made plans to do a two-day backpack on the
Towel Creek Trail,
a seven-mile long trail that would take us to the Verde River. We were going
to camp along the river, and we were even planning to bring with us an
inflatable rubber raft so that we could do a little boating on the river. Of
course, our goal was merely to get to the other side of the river so that we
could enter the Cedar Bench Wilderness Area and conquer it. We were really
looking forward to that trip, and we had even made all of the necessary
preparations. By Friday night, our backpacks were packed and ready to go.
But it just wasn't meant to be. Instead of backpacking, John and I were forced
to stay home on Saturday so that we could wait by the phone on pins and
needles. You see, Thursday night, after work, John and I had gone to look at a
couple of houses, one of which had just gone on the market (there wasn't even
a "For Sale" sign on the property). We decided that we liked the one, so John
arranged to see it with our realtor. Then, Friday after work, we returned to
the house with the realtor and John's parents so that we could take a better
look at it, and that was when we decided that we wanted it. Unfortunately,
there was already an offer on the house, for less than the full amount. The
owners had countered the offer, meaning that we still had time to make an
offer before the previous bid was signed.
And so, Saturday morning, we waited by the phone, hoping and praying that our
offer would be accepted. It wasn't until noon that we heard that our offer had
been accepted, and at one o'clock that afternoon, the offer was signed. We
were buying a house!
We spent the rest of the day calling relatives and spreading our good news.
Then, Sunday morning, we decided to do a day hike, to make up for the
backpacking trip that we missed. We chose to do the
Eagletail Wilderness Area,
in the western part of the state, for several reasons. 1) We had better
directions to the trailhead; 2) it was a new wilderness area for us; and 3) it
was a desert hike - since it was starting to get colder in the high country,
we were now setting our sights for the desert areas.
John and I had tried to go to the Eagletail Wilderness a year ago, after
having learned about it on the Internet. Unfortunately, the directions we had
been given were vague, and we got lost. Instead, we went to Sundad, John's old
stomping grounds. Now, one year later, we were a little wiser, because we now
owned a book about the wilderness areas in Arizona, complete with detailed
instructions on how to get there as well as trails to hike there. (The book is
called Exploring Arizona's Wild Areas: A Guide for Hikers, Backpackers,
Climbers, X-Country Skiers & Paddlers, by Scott Warren, and it is a must-read
for anyone interested in Arizona's wilderness areas.) Equipped with that book
and our day hiking gear, John and I left for the trailhead at 6:45 a.m. Sunday
morning, with every intention of conquering the Eagletail Wilderness Area.
Indeed, the directions given to us in the book were much better than those we
had found on the Internet were. To get to the trailhead, we took I-10 to
Salome Road, exit 81, and turned left then right again after crossing over the
bridge. From the exit, we drove for five miles on pavement, through the farm
country, until we came to Courthouse/Centennial Road, where we turned right
and continued on dirt roads for the next twelve miles. At first, it was
"super-slab" dirt, which was good because we were in the Oldsmobile. We drove
along at sixty miles an hour, slowing down only for cattle guards and dips.
Then, we merged onto a light-duty gas-line road and drove on that for several
miles. It wasn't too bad, except for the dips and the soft sand - John was
worried that we were going to get the car stuck in the sand! I hit a couple of
the dips a little too fast, so we were jostled around the car quite a bit.
However, we didn't damage the car or get stuck, so that was good.
Then, after 10.8 miles (exactly) of dirt road, we reached the turn-off for the
trailhead. We weren't sure exactly which road to take at first, so we were
relieved to find a sign at the turn-off - until that point, we had not seen
any signage for the Eagletail Wilderness, so we were relying solely on the
directions given in the book!
From the junction with the gas line road, it was only 1.5 miles to the
trailhead ... 1.5 miles on a "high clearance road". (Oops - we overlooked that
sentence in the book entirely.) The first 1.25 miles, though, is not bad. It
is the last quarter mile that is ugly! That portion of the road was rocky,
rutted, and even washed out at points - however, since we were in the
Oldsmobile, we were able to get through it. (Remember: it's an Oldsmobile; it
goes anywhere!)
Our plan was to hike until noon, have lunch, then turn around and come back to
the car. In the meantime, of course, we would find a suitable spot to play
naked, which would be easy considering that there wasn't anyone else parked at
the trailhead (meaning that we probably had the whole wilderness to
ourselves!). After studying the topo at the trailhead, we began our hike at
9:00 a.m., stopping first to share a "new wilderness" kiss before proceeding
down the Ben Avery Trail.
It sounded like an easy trail. Basically, the Ben Avery Trail follows an old
jeep road south through the Eagletail Wilderness Area for about twelve miles,
ending at another trailhead. The trick, however, is to stick to the road. At
one point, John and I left the road and began hiking cross country. Then, we
decided to hike in the wash, because we had seen footprints there - we figured
that that was the trail. Hiking in the wash proved to be difficult because it
was lined with soft sand, but it was also nice because the walls provided us
with some cool shade. While exploring the wash, John and I found a shaded
alcove where we could play naked, and the soft sand that had given us so much
difficulty made for a nice bed for the deed.
Eventually, the wash took us back to the road - or what we thought was the
main road/trail. The road meandered through the desert and led us to a tank of
game water. The tank, which was enclosed by a corral, was immense and covered
by a wooden roof and chicken wire, leaving us to wonder how the animals were
able to drink from it. We walked all around the tank, looking for some sort of
tube or pump that would allow the animals to drink from the tank, but we found
none. Then, we found that there was a smaller, concrete tank about thirty feet
away. Water from the larger tank was being pumped into the smaller tank for
the desert animals.
With that mystery solved, John and I continued to explore wilderness area. We
followed the old jeep road for about another mile, along the way seeing some
amazing things, like a double arch in a rock on top of a hill. We hoped that
the trail would take us closer to the double arch so that we could see it, but
it ended up taking us in the opposite direction. Eventually, the jeep road
disappeared completely, forcing us onto a game trail as it began to meander
into a canyon. At first, we stayed on the game trail, but when that became too
overgrown, I decided to walk in the wash, while John continued along the game
trail.
A half an hour later, John announced that we were probably lost. I agreed with
him completely. Since it was already 11:30, we chose to turn around and begin
to hike back to the car, in hopes that, along the way, we would be able to
figure out how we got lost. Eating lunch as we hiked, we wandered back to the
point where the jeep road had disappeared, and we retraced our steps until we
finally reached the trailhead, at 1:00 in the afternoon.
Upon returning to the trailhead, we discovered that indeed we had been lost
and that we had gotten lost early during our hike. We think that happened when
we veered off of the jeep road and began to hike cross country, because
somehow we began to hike west instead of south. He pointed out the double arch
on the topo at the trailhead, indicating the path we had taken as opposed to
the trail we should have taken. He even pulled up our route on the GPS. We
both laughed about it and considered it a lesson learned: we should never hike
without a topo map.
Having finished hiking early, John and I decided to stop at a Texaco Station
along the highway to get Subway for lunch - and a scoop of ice cream to cool
us down. Then, we would take Sun Valley Road back to Phoenix. "This is
something you've got to see," he indicated. "It is one of Phoenix's White
Elephants."
"Why is that?" I asked.
Basically, Sun Valley Road started out as a "good idea", like the dog track.
In the late 70's/early 80's, the City of Phoenix spent a lot of money to
construct this four lane, divided highway from Sun City to Buckeye, in hopes
that it would be the "Great Phoenix Bypass". And it never happened! Sun Valley
Road is rarely used, except by drag racers and daredevils. John bet me that we
wouldn't see but ten cars on that road during the entire thirty mile stretch.
And although we did see fifteen cars, his point was made: Sun Valley Road was
a waste of money. It was, however, a very scenic stretch of highway, winding
through the desert landscape at the base of the White Tank Mountains.
Upon reaching civilization, we found ourselves in the typical heavy, slow
moving traffic in Sun City. We eventually made it through the traffic and
drove to Paradise Valley so that we could take pictures of our new house.
Then, we went home, thus ending another adventurous weekend. |
