Bear Mountain Trail: Nature's Stair Machine...With Views!

We hiked a doozy of a trail in red rock country. Bear Mountain Trail is only about 2.5 miles long, but you gain almost 2,000 feet of elevation in that stretch and it's mostly stairs. Stairs with views to die for, literally, if you lose your footing!

The trail takes you up rocky crevices to each level of the terrain. So you ascend for a while then get a nice little breather as you traverse the next plateau, before doing it all over again on a different kind of rock. It's steep, but across a lot of good, grippy sandstone...the kind of surface your hiking shoes like!

This is the view from the parking area out on Boynton Pass Rd.
Little did we know that the peak is actually the tiny slice of white way behind the red rocks in front!

For perspective, here is a photo I took after the hike when we had driven around the side of the mountain.
We started the hike at the base of the red rocks on the right, and hiked to the top of the white peak.

As we ascended the views opened up towards Sedona.

The first steep section let us know pretty quickly this hike is not for wussies!

Soon massive walls of red were towering over us.

Love, love, love the layers and colors!

We'd come over a little rise and WOW a gorgeous canyon would drop away from our mountain.

Mushroom rock detail several hundred feet below us.

Taking a little break on the steep white sandstone.

Now we're high enough that a look back towards Sedona includes a beautiful red rock canyon.

We crossed some white sandstone that reminded us of parts of Zion NP.

This is one of the plateaus we crossed.

We're headed for the highest point on the left.

From the top of Bear Mountain we have a view of what I believe is the Palatki Ruins site.
We'll visit that another day, you need a reservation.

We also have a view of the San Francisco Peaks, very little snow on them this year.

We both felt that the summit was anticlimactic. Too many bushes made the views rather inaccessible. If we did this hike again we'd stop at the last obvious, beautiful viewpoint instead of making the final loose dirt/rock scramble to the top.

Back down we go...

Bear Mountain is an awesome hike in this beautiful pocket of the South West!

Mingus Mountain in the Off Season, Plus a Little Fun in Jerome

Mingus Mountain is a high point in the Black Hills mountain range West of Cottonwood. You can access it by driving Hwy 89A through Jerome. Our goal was to hike trails #106 and 105 at the top of the mountain which peaks at 7,815 feet.

What we didn't anticipate was the forest roads might be closed! We got about a mile from our trail head and encountered a gate across the road. We were surprised because there was barely any snow, certainly none on the roads. We decided to walk on up to our intended destination and enjoy the mountain pretty much all to ourselves.

Trail #105 starts at the Mingus Hand Glider Launch. As you can imagine the views from the top of the mountain were expansive, unfortunately the day was hazy enough that photos don't do it justice.

Hans is about to launch off the side of the mountain!

The pilots view.

Sharp contrasts!

This was taken at the high point of  trail #105, just before it drops over the edge of the mountain.
In the far distance you can see the snow capped San Francisco Mountains.
In front of them is the colorful band of red rock that is Sedona area and the Mogollon Rim.
The town of Jerome is at bottom left, Clarkdale bottom right.

This guy let us get up close and inspect him for several minutes.

Nice colors up close!

We left the mountain and made our way back to Jerome. This quirky historic mining town is currently home to about 500 people, many of them artists. We visited on the Sunday before St Patricks day so the place was hopping!

Incredible mosaic wall at the Surgeons House.

Our purpose for visiting Jerome on a busy Sunday was to meet up with a newly retired former coworker of Hans and to see a band at the Spirit Room. Kathryn was visiting family in Prescott and we may get to see her again next month when we move on to Prescott.

The Spirit Room is a lively bar on the ground floor of the historic Hotel Connor building.

Cadillac Angel rocked the house!

Mike, Kathryn, Hans and Lisa havin' a blast!

Our New Home Base for a Month: Cottonwood, AZ

We're hanging out in Cottonwood, AZ for a month. We're 10 minutes from Jerome and Camp Verde and 20 minutes from Sedona so we've got excellent hiking, interesting art, live music and shopping close by. I think we'll be happy here for a while!

Old Town Cottonwood has character:

We're in the wild West now!

Verde Valley Olive Oil Traders has a retail store in Old Town Cottonwood. The knowledgeable staff helps you with tastings and pairings of a wide variety of quality olive oils and white and red balsamic vinegars. The blood orange olive oil and chocolate red balsamic vinegar combo was fantastic! I ended up walking away with the blood orange oil and could easily have bought more if I had the space.

We checked out Aloha Radio at the Main Stage bar one evening. The band was fun and call their style Surf Soul. The venue had the best acoustics, lighting and sound we've ever seen and some great art on display as well.

Art and lights at the Main Stage.

Aloha Radio

We headed up to Sedona for a St Patricks weekend show but on the way we wanted to stop at the Red Rock Ranger District office for a good map of the area. The shortest route was via Cornville Rd to Beaverhead Flats Rd. There's a Scenic View pullout on Beaverhead Flats Rd that turned out to be a great place to stretch our legs.

A sign at the Scenic View told us this site commemorated the Chavez Trail which passed through the area in 1864. Beyond the pullout an old forest service road lured us into the hills. We could tell the gate across FS 9500G was new and that folks used to boondock here; it would have been a sweet site! In fact, right back up Beaverhead Flats Rd we saw people boondocking on some nice forest service land.

This hill, topped with a layer of volcanic rock, beckoned us to climb it.

As we headed up the hill colorful landscape opened up as we looked toward the Mogollon Rim.

Scrambling up the lava escarpment we enjoyed expansive views and red cactus flowers.

The views on the other side of our hill were wonderful!
Sedona red rock, here we come!

Onward to Sedona for Celtic music by The Knockabouts at Oak Creek Brewing Co, it's St Paddy's weekend after all! Good beers; I especially enjoyed the King Crimson dark red ale. Food at the brewery is provided by Simon's Colombian Style Hot Dogs, and they were yummy! Unique toppings and good bread.

The Knockabouts were great!

After that midday indulgence we decided to burn a little of it off on a short hike...we were in Sedona after all. Less than a mile from the brewery was a trail head leading us into the amazing rock formations that make Sedona so enticing.

We're excited to be in this area for a month!

Campground Review: Cave Creek Regional Park, Cave Creek, AZ

Cave Creek Regional Park is located in a pretty Sonoran desert setting in the foothills at the edge of the Northernmost communities of the Phoenix metropolitan area. There are 38 water/electric hookup sites, each with a picnic table and BBQ. Roads and sites are paved, sites are spacious and well separated. There are restrooms with showers (not very good shower heads though), a playground and a dump station.

The Regional Park offers 11 miles of trails, lots of picnic sites, a Nature Center and a playground. Horseback riding is also available and two of the campsites have small corrals if you want to bring your own horse.

We had site #17. This site is adjacent to the restroom, which faces away from our site. It was a nice, big site, the only drawback being there was no shade and we got the afternoon sun. Since the other side of the rig was right on the road, we weren't able to sit outside in the afternoons when it was hot unless we wanted to sit in the street. We had a decent Verizon signal during our stay.

Since it's such a small campground and far from the local highway it is very quiet here day and night.

Many of the sites here, though large and well separated from the neighbors, seemed wide open and not too private. This may be because the shrubs are smaller and lower to the ground here and there are fewer trees in the campground compared to our last stop at Lost Dutchman.  I thought the best sites were 2, 4, 6, and 8. These four sites had afternoon shade and trees closer to the site for a more private feel. Take a good look at a satellite map when making your reservation because a couple of pairs of sites have adjacent sitting areas making them ideal for folks camping with other people, but no privacy if you want to be alone.

Site #17, That's the restroom building behind us.

Site #17 from the other direction.
Our sitting area was huge but had no shade until the sun was almost down.

Rosie casts a late afternoon shadow.

A Few Days at Cave Creek

We've spent a few nights at Cave Creek Regional Park, hiking the trails right from camp and just down the road at Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area. At the extreme North end of the Phoenix metropolitan area, we are still in the beautiful Sonoran desert, snugged up against foothills bordering Tonto National Forest.

Here's a few shots from the Cave Creek trails. The trails are easy to moderate, well marked, follow rolling hills, and have very few rocky sections.

One super unique Saguaro!

Pretty skies and views.

In the next two weeks I think the hedgehog and cholla blooms will really start opening.
We saw purple blooms in the Superstitions and now pink blooms here!

We peeked under a rock and found this...

We had an awesome eight mile loop hike at Spur Cross Ranch. (Map) We parked at the Jewel of the Creek Preserve, just outside Spur Cross, and took the Dragonfly trail to Tortuga trail, to Elephant Mountain, to Spur Cross, and back to Dragonfly.

Great variety on this loop...We enjoyed water in Cave Creek, saw cottonwoods and saguaros right next to each other! We saw evidence of the Hohokam people via petroglyphs and ruins. There were excellent vistas, some canyon walking, lots of geologic variety, and though there were some steep rocky sections, they weren't too tough.

Cottonwoods along Cave Creek in the foreground.
Elephant Mountain is the tall peak on the left.
We will be hiking to the saddle and butte on its right.

An unexpected combination of plants!

 

Thought to be a Hohokam petroglyph.

Found under a rock.

Our destination looms above us.
We'll hike up the canyon and around the back side.

That's our peak on the left!

From the saddle we could see the remnants of rock walls about 150 feet above us.
So up we went...

 

Thought to be Hohokam ruins.

A look back at the saddle we had come over and the butte we climbed to see the ruins.

Elephant Mountain is made of lava and covered with thousands of saguaros.

Beautiful and rugged terrain at Spur Cross Ranch.

We really enjoyed this loop at Spur Cross and look forward to hitting the rest of the trails here next time we're in the area. The trails are well marked and the variety of terrain can't be beat!

As we wrap up our brief stay at Cave Creek I'd like to share a simple, healthy and versatile Tangy Carrot and Cabbage Slaw. I make a batch and build lunches and side dishes around it for a few days. In addition to the simple and light snack shown below, I'll add it to a green salad or some leftover quinoa or other grain, or it's a great addition to a sandwich for a little extra crunch and tang.

Tangy Carrot and Cabbage Slaw covers homemade hummus on Wasa Crisp Bread.

Tomorrow we're heading North, here's one last shot from one of the gorgeous sunsets we've had at Cave Creek.