Update #1 - Canmore To Apache Junction Arizona

Hello Everyone from a warm and sunny Phoenix; well Apache Junction. We left home on November 24th and had an uneventful drive to St. George Utah, our first stop. The skies and roads were both clear, just the way we like it. 

 In St. George we visited our friends Blanca and Pierre, who have a lovely home there. They took us on a hike called the Red Reef Trail which is a SCRAMBLE. I now know what that means. It involved climbing over rocks, ropes, chimneys, and stemming. (I'll let the pictures explain.) They had quite a good rainfall the week before so there were some extra water features to negotiate. Maybe that Masters Climbing course at Elevation Place would be a good idea for situations like this. We all made it and the beer, showers and supper were all well deserved.

The next day we left and took highway 91 to Mesquite Nevada. Good suggestion Blanca. Of course this begs the question; why did they put the Interstate through the Virgin River Gorge?? Highway 91 is a much more gradual downhill into Nevada.

We decided to spend the night in Mesquite and take the anti-freeze out of the motor home and clean up the car and motor home. 

We had a 2 day drive to the north end of Phoenix where we explored 3 of the Maricopa Country parks. Lake Pleasant is a reservoir, part of the Central Arizona Project and of course water activities are the main form of recreation. We did some walking and discovered Two Cow Cove. This lake has many arms and coves that are hidden at first glance. We also rode our bikes into Peoria for lunch one day. This was our first ride and we did 58 kms.

Then we moved over to Cave Creek. This area's claim to fame was mining and gold was the first item to be mined for. There was no gold. One lady made her money mining the clay in the area and sold it as a cure-all. The feeling is that it probably did help those with dysentery.

We spent a day over at Spur Cross Ranch which is the newest Maricopa County park. We're not quite sure of the history of this park as the ranger didn't show for the interpretive hike so we set out on our own. We did find a metate, an oasis and a huge saguaro cactus. There's a huge network of hiking trails in Cave Creek and Spur Cross and in fact you can hike between the 2 parks. We also found several geo-caches while here so have now have over 400 finds. We're now in Apache Junction for 2 weeks. 

 We saw Beth and Ken Middleton while they were in Scottsdale. We went out on the Apache Trail with them. The road was built to bring in supplies for the construction of the Roosevelt Dam between 1906 and 1911. Once again this seems like a difficult way to bring in the supplies as part of the route goes through a canyon and there is a 10% grade. 

This was a traditional route used by the Apaches and also the first settlers. It seems it would have been much easier to come in from Globe. I've read since that the Apache Trail was also the road to Globe from Phoenix. We also did a quick stop to Tonto National monument, a cliff dwelling. 

We've done some bike riding here along the canals with a trip to Bergie's Coffee Shop and also a trip to Gold Canyon. Had supper at Organ Stop Pizza with Ken and Beth. We had a bit of a cold spell here although I know I won't get a lot of sympathy from the folks up north. That seems to be over now and the day time high is around 70 degrees. Travel in the motor home is different. I wouldn't say it's better or worse, it's just different. Drew loves driving it and I love sitting in the passenger seat. Set up is easy. Drew has no issues with backing up. It's very nice to live in and gives us lots of space. Drew is learning about the electronics of this thing. Way too many light switches but I'm coping. A couple of mice took up residence but I think we finally got them. They didn't like our old traps so we bought new ones and some new poison and that seems to have done the trick. Hope this finds everyone happy, healthy and warm.

Drew & Donna.