Hiking with Whazoo in Arizona

We arrived at the Upper Salt River Recreation area, a BLM (Bureau of Land Managment) area near Globe Arizona, 60 miles east of Phoenix. Sunny at last, and merely breezy. To get here we traveled the road through the Salt River Canyon...One has to ask, "Why would anyone spend the time and money to put a road here", but they did and what a drive it is. The Salt River Recreation Area is a place, owned by we the public, where one can camp for up to 14 days for free. These areas exist throughout the west and we will stay in many of them during our trip. We set up a few feet from the river and settled down to enjoy the river and wait for Whazoo and his wife to meet us on the next day. Whazoo and Lynn arrived and we broke out some of the microbrew beer I had been collecting since New York. We started a campfire for Bison Burgers and Hot dogs. Whazoo had planned a couple of long hikes for us but first we moved camp up onto what we now know as Whazoo Bluff. Whazoo Bluff is a huge escarpment in the Tonto National Forest with a terrific view of the Salt River Valley and Lake Roosevelt. We camped, again free on National Forest Land, on a cliff top hundreds of feet above the valley. While we waited for the "Almost Always " Arizona sun we took some pictures of the bluff. We started the next day with some of Whazoo's Cowboy Coffee, then headed out on a hike to view the Sierra Ancha ruins in Devil's Chasm. Sounds like a nice place, eh? whazoo's definition of a nice hike is: 3 brutal miles, climbing waterfalls, skirting along cliff edges, (Look closely, that's us up there)squeezing between rocks, and slogging through mud on a 25 degrees slope to find an amazing Ancient Puebloan Ruin of the Saluda Indians abandoned approximately 800-900 years ago. Pictures don't do justice to places like this, there is a spiritual content that one feels deeply near these ancient homes of people long gone. We could see the handprints left many years ago by people we know little about today, and see pottery shards and grinding stones laying on the floor as if left yesterday. Truly an awe inspiring adventure in the Arizona Mountains. Of course getting down was easy Right? RIGHT! But, we did manage to get back to Whazoo bluff to relax for day 2. Whazoo's next offering was a desert hike to Salome Creek, one of the feeder rivers to Lake Roosevelt. We had earlier decided not to head down to Saguaro National Park in southern Arizona and were rewarded with a plethora of Saguaro on this hike. Saguaro Cactus must grow to 15 feet (about 75 years of growth) before they get an arm. You can imagine the age of these stately Cacti. The green surface of the cactus feel about like a smooth basket ball, you can press it in a bit, but not much. The skeleton of the cactus is a stout woody structure much like bones. Most cacti have a very solid core which is surrounded by the pulpy succulent that we are used to seeing. Many of the cacti, inlcuding the Prickly Pears, and the Beavertails, as well as some varieties of Yucca, were in bloom. On the way in a big healthy looking bobcat crossed the road in front of us. Salome creek is a richness of water, flowing out of the mountains, in the bone dry desert, but because it flows so swiftly through it's rocky channels there is little lush growth around the stream. The Creek is clear cold and inviting, and many people swim the canyon in the late spring months. We even saw Salome Dance. After the hike we enjoyed another campfire up on the bluff with Pizza, and fine ales. Whazoo and Lynn left the next day and Cheryl and I headed back to the Salt River Rec area (Stopping on our way for a few pictures of this Gila Monster) for 1 more night before heading on.Next: A cold rain moves into Arizona and we head to Joshua Tree National Park in California.

P. S. Thanks to Whazoo for some of the pictures on the Devil's Chasm and Salome Creek hikes.