mike & rhonda's latest adventure: Enjoying the High Country

Heading north from Phoenix we have spent the past week in the mountainous area known as the High Country. With the higher altitude, averaging 5,000 feet above sea level, the temperatures have cooled down to 17-20C during the daytime but still quite comfortable for hiking and golf (more so than the 25-30C in the Phoenix area). We started off with a challenging hike in Lost Dutchman State Park (Siphon Draw Trail) that featured some steep rock scrambling. Then we drove along the scenic Apache Trail making brief stops at Tortilla Flats (early 1900's stagecoach stop), Canyon and Apache Lakes and the Roosevelt Dam along the Salt River. We spent a night in Roosevelt so that the next morning we could visit the Tonto Cliff Dwellings, where Puebloans built small homes in mid-mountain caves for protection from the elements and other tribes.

From there we continued on to Payson where we spent several days. The highlight was doing short but steep hikes in Tonto Natural Bridge S.P., where they claim to have the world's largest natural stone bridge in the world, measuring 183' high, 150' wide and 400' long. It was discovered in 1877 by a prospector being chased by Apaches when he hid in a cave under the bridge. The fairly steep hike to the bottom was only about a kilometre in length but it provided great views of the bridge and the opportunity to rock hop across the stream and climb larger rocks to get through the huge bridge 'tunnel' to get to the other side for more views and another trail back to the top. We found a couple of well placed geocaches along the way.

We have spent the past 4 days in Prescott, a beautiful place with nice, inexpensive golf courses and hiking opportunities. The town was founded in 1864 as a mining town (providing mineral riches to support the Lincoln's Civil War Union army, but was later devastated by the Great Fire of 1900 which destroyed most of the town. Prescott was rebuilt shortly after and many of the early 1900's buildings are still in use today. During our self-guided historic downtown walk we stopped by many of these establishments including several along Whisky Row where there were once more than 50 bars along one street. One of those The Palace Saloon is still in operation and had a beautiful long bar that had been brought to Prescott from San Francisco in the late 1800's by wagon. When the Great Fire started the bar patrons carried the long bar across the street to the safety of the large Town Plaza where it survived the fire while the saloon burnt to the ground. The bar was re-built shortly after.....it obviously had some very loyal customers.......and the long bar was returned to its rightful place. The long bar seemed to be the highlight of anything that was saved during the massive downtown fire. Today we hiked in the Granite Dells which are right beside our small RV Park. Lots of rock scrambling in a preserve with interesting rock formations requiring the various trails to be marked by painted dots along the trails to keep hikers ascending and descending in the correct direction.

Tomorrow we will drive a bit further north to Sedona where we will spend a few days, meeting up with my Vancouver sister and husband who are doing a home exchange for 2 weeks.