SOME MORE RUINS AND HEADED NORTH

Connie and I hiked up to a couple more Indian ruins yesterday.  These had a trail so it was much easier hiking.  Much the same as the one the day before, but was in a saddle higher up in elevation.  More shards here than in most we have been to.  Lots of broken pottery.  The trail was good and there were many wild flowers along the way.  Some we had not seen before.

A highlight of the hike was on the way down, three F-16s flew over us.  One was really low as we were on a ridgeline and he did not clear it by much.  Lots of noise - Connie was covering her ears.  One touched the after burner as he initiated a climbing turn and that really made some noise.  Must have been doing some air to air combat training.  What a show.

We are in an RV park in Tonto Basin at the end of Roosevelt Lake tonight.  Had to get water, get rid of garbage, charge batteries, and take long hot showers.  Both camera batteries were low as well as the camper batteries.  Plus it was really windy this afternoon and the point we were camped on was taking a hit.  Rocking the camper!  Will be headed north tomorrow.  And will be in some snow sometime tomorrow also.  Guess our trip to the desert is coming to a close.  Will do some exploring at Canyon De Chilly on the Navajo Reservation near the New Mexico border and then it will just be driving.  Will stop in SLC to see Connie's Aunt Jane and the rest of her family on Easter. 

Moonrise.

Sunset.

Sunrise.

Lots of shards.

Lots of flowers.

We had not seen this flower before.

The hedgehogs are really starting to bloom.

INDIAN RUINS

We took a hike up to some old Indian ruins just south of our camp.  There is not trail so it was bushwhacking at it's best.  Not to bad though.  The only cats claw brush was in the bottom we had to cross to get there.  It was sure interesting being up there.  Kind of strange also.  There were lots of shards and an old rock that you can tell they ground their corn on. 

Lots of Lupine on our hike down into the wash.

A few shards on the rock that was the corn grinder.

Some of the walls of the ruin.  This one, as many are in this area, was built on top of a mountain.  The weather was different a thousand years ago so maybe there was a spring really close for water.

Sitting on the grinder rock.

CHANGE IN PLANS

We were going to head north today, but we changed our minds after looking at the weather forecast.  There is another storm brewing in Utah and northern Arizona so we are going to wait until it goes through before we head north.  Will spend a few days in northern AZ going across the Navajo and Hopi reservations and at Canyon De Chelly National Monument.

We took a 4WD drive road today just to the north of us and got a few good views of the area.

Sunrise this morning.

Saw quite a few poppies and lots of lupine on the drive.

The road.

We have a bird nesting right by our camp in a cholla cactus.

SALOME WILDERNESS AREA HIKE

We hiked into the Salome Wilderness Area today where Salome Creek comes through some rocks.  What a sight it was.  There is quite a bit of water coming through it right now, but not as much as came through this winter.  There is drift wood really high and it took out some cactus and brush.  After centuries of water coming through these rocks are smooth let me tell you.  To get there we had to ford the Salt River just by Tonto Basin then drive on a forest service dirt road for at least 10 miles and hike the remaining 2 or 3 miles into the area.  But it was worth it.  We love discovering new things in this area.  The hike was great as there were a lot of wild flowers and a number of hedgehog cactus blooming.

Crossing the Salt River.

Connie loves driving her jeep.

There was a sign that said road closed before you enter the water.  But everyone ignores it.

A hedgehog cactus.

Beautiful deep pools.  In the summer the creek is mostly dry.

 Would love to see this at flood stage!

APACHE LAKE KAYAK

We headed over to Apache Lake to do some kayaking and check out the area since we had not been there since 05.  Road is still rough and there are not as many wildflowers blooming.  But that is the case all over AZ as the spring is a couple of weeks late.  The wind was blowing pretty good when we put in, but it dropped considerably by the time we finished.  Not to many boaters out on the lake and we had a pretty good time.  Will have to do Canyon and Saguaro Lakes next time.  We were told they were pretty good.  Although Saguaro is just outside Phoenix so we might take a pass on that one.

We put in at this nice sandy beach.  Not a lot of people around this time of year.

It was a little bit rough when we first turned the corner out into the lake, but it died down after an hour or so.

This is the beach we had lunch at. 

This is the view just above the beach.

 Indian Paint brush by our camp

ROOSEVELT LAKE

We are up in the Roosevelt Lake area.  Got here on Tuesday just after a rain.  Didn't even try to go up the dirt road where we usually camp because it was going to be impassible.  Stayed the first night down by the lake at the cholla campground.  Moved the next morning up to a bluff over looking the lake.  It was a bit muddy, but did not have any problems.  Further up the road though we could not have made it.

After we got moved, we took the kayak down to the lake and put it in for a nice few hours of paddling.  The lake was like a mirror.  We had lunch up a little side inlet and hiked up the dry creek bottom for a ways.  Paddled up to the dam also.

While I was setting up camp at our overlook, Connie took Zeus for a walk.  They walked up by where we usually camp where there is a pond.  Of course they had to play fetch the stick in the water.  A favorite game of the blind dog!

If you click to enlarge, you can see our camper on the second knoll on the left.  This is from the pond Zeus was swimming in.  If you had binoculars, you might see me working to get camp set up!!!

Approaching the bridge near the dam.  Nice water!

The Roosevelt Dam.

Looking out from by the dam which is to our back.

This was our lunch spot.

That is our camper from the lake.  You notice the snow on the hills!  Late spring down here.

Click to enlarge and you will see this cardinal with a Christmas Cactus fruit in it's beak. 

 

AIR SHOW

Went to the DM Air Show and got to see a lot of airplanes!!  This is a big airshow.  Had a lot of demonstration teams and got to watch a combat search and rescue demonstration with F-16s, A-10s, HH-60, and a HC-130.  They have changed their tactics somewhat but the basic mission remains the same as when I flew it back in the day.  There was a HC-130 on static display that I think I flew in Alaska.  At least the tail number sure was familiar.  We had three at the rescue squadron there.  Lots of other things going on also.  They anticipated over 100,000 people to show up, and I think they might have got that in the two days of the show. 

This is a C-17 with some civilian aircraft making some smoke trails by it.  There was a jumper that came down through the spiral smoke trails with the American flag attached to his leg.  Great crowd pleaser.

Here the PJs (now called guardian angles) slide down the rope to the survivor.

The A-10s come in and provide cover for the rescue.

I am sure the EOD folks had a great day setting off all the charges.

They finished the SAR with an air refueling demo.

Now this was the aircraft (A-1E) that flew as cover for me back in Vietnam.  Great old airplane.

Lots of flying demonstration teams.

We didn't stay for the USAF Thunderbirds, but they put on quite a show.   We watched from our campsite in the Famcamp.  

PATAGONIA

We headed over to Tucson where we are staying at Davis Montham Air Force Base for a few days.  We went down to Patagonia the first day to Patagonia State Park where we kayaked in the lake for a while then watched the annual Mariachi Festival.  It was really a great day.  Got to see a lot of birds out on the lake and snapped a couple pictures, almost 200 counting the ones at the festival.  Will only include a few here.  They are having an air show here this weekend so when we came back from Patagonia on Saturday night, we could not get back on base because they had the inbound roads closed trying to get all the people off the base.  So  we went and had Chinese food for supper. 

A few pictures of some blue herons.

And a few pictures of the most beautiful bird - the vulture.

The Mariachi Festival was held under the big white tent.  Below are pictures of some of the performers.

They start these kids out early in age.

This group is a high school group from Tucson.  They were really talented and have one many first prizes in competitions. 

They can sing as well as play musical instruments.  Quite impressive it was.