On the edge of the Mazatzal Wilderness in the Tonto National Forest

Last week we discovered a beautiful new playground, and it’s a mecca for us to camp and hike and explore....the Mazatzal Wilderness!

It was getting hot in Mesa with temperatures into the mid 90’s.  So we packed up the Turtle and headed to higher ground.  We wanted to find a campsite at about 4000’ elevation where the temperature in the heat of the day would top out at about 80 degree—just perfect for hiking in the morning, sitting in the shade together during the afternoon, and by evening the cool mountain air would allow us to snuggle throughout the night.

I scoured my multitude of National Forest maps and only fifty miles from home found numerous four-wheel-drive roads heading toward the Mazatzal Wilderness.  They were calling us.  

The elevation in the area ranged from 4000’- 5000’.  The anticipation of the adventures we’d have while exploring this new area was intoxicating.

And we were not disappointed.  We discovered a type of rugged mountain desert that we had not encountered before in all our years of camping and hiking.

We found a sweet camping spot nestled next to the West Sycamore Creek and shaded by beautiful sycamore trees with their snow-white bark.

We were at the intersection of two rugged roads that headed deeper into the mountains. These roads were just asking for us to explore them.

So the next morning we hiked straight up one of the old dirt roads...over 1000’ elevation gain in just over two miles!

The road switch-backed up, and up, and then up even more...

And we climbed even higher...almost to the top of those distant hills!

At the top, high in the mountains at 5000’ elevation, the road ended at the Matzatzal Wilderness.  And from there a short trail led to Passage 22 of the 800 mile Arizona Hiking Trail! 

See the trail behind me...we were almost at the AZT, but we were too pooped to go even one step further.

No vehicles are allowed in our wilderness areas.  But there are numerous trails for hikers and those on horseback.  We love the way our wilderness areas are protected.

We did find a great camping spot right outside of the wilderness.  Next time we will camp there, avoid having to climb over 1000’ of elevation.  We will hike deep into the Mazatzal Wilderness on the Arizona Trail high in the mountains.  We can hardly wait to return!

Dan is standing in the campsite that we found, and behind him on the left of the picture you can see the trail leading into the wilderness.  A absolutely beautiful campsite on top of a mountain!

Trekking down this amazingly steep road, we crossed the “finish line” of the virtual 200 mile Destination Trail Meta!  We had started this 200 mile virtual race 54 days ago, on February 25th.

We celebrated by wearing our “Finisher Metals,”

and our new Destination Meta t-shirts for the entire day!

We earned a totally cool finisher belt buckle too!

OK, we know we’re kind of silly, but we’re silly together, and we have an awful lot of fun, and it makes us happy!   

One of the things that has surprised us about the desert in the springtime is the proliferation of wildflowers.  Each wildflower was more beautiful than the last one I had seen, and I had to get a picture of  every single one.  

I didn’t know that Dan was more entertained by me taking pictures of the awesome flowers than he was by the wildflowers.

Here we are on the way down.  Note how steep the road is—also on the right of the picture is the other rugged road that winds into the mountains.   Hiking up that road two days later was an experience we’ll never forget...

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We have put on our backpacks and headed out on a hike 760 times in the last nine years and four months.  We never know what we are going to find.  Some of our hikes are just another one of our wonderful days together out in our lovely deserts.  That’s rewarding and fun and all we are really looking for.  And we get to keep our bodies strong out in the middle of nature.

Some of our hikes are so special that we know we will want to return again and again.  And we do.

But every now and then while we are hiking something unexpected happens, and we both sense that we have found a magical place.  A wild and remote area where we see spectacular beauty and discover history that was lost long ago in the desert.  We know that a hike that moves us in this way will be placed on our list of “Top Ten Hikes.”

We had that experience last week on the edge of the Matzatzal Wilderness, when we hiked up the other rugged road from our campsite on the West Sycamore Creek.

The road we hiked is one that we could never drive up, even with the Rat (our rock climbing Toyota 4Runner).  This road had 2+ foot rock drops, and it climbed through a very narrow canyon and up a river bed of the Sycamore Creek. It would be defined as more of a path or trail, than a road.

There were spectacular views down into the ravines and deep into the mountain canyons.

 

The creek traveled in the ravines below us with water trickling down the mountainside.  We rounded a bend in the road and knew we were in a magical place when we saw a deep pool of water below us.

I found more beautiful and delicate wildflowers to gaze upon (and photograph) in the creek bed!

The road traveled next to (and through) the creek for about a quarter of a mile.  That’s when we discovered the old mines dug deep into the hillside.

We followed a side road that traveled high above these mine tunnels and found the oddest structures we have ever seen.  We had never seen anything like these very old concrete and rusted structures. And we’ve explored numerous old mining sites. 

When we checked our map, we realized that we were at the Sunflower Mine.  We had stumbled into the past. This mine was discovered in 1911, one hundred and ten years ago. The hearty, desperate men who built these treacherous roads through the mountains and dug tunnels into the sheer rock 110 years ago were looking for gold!

Here’s more information that we later found about the Sunflower Mine.

We believe that the enormous metal cylinder that we are standing in front of was part of the processing facility which processed the ore into liquid mercury.

It seems there is much more to explore in the Sunflower Mine complex, so we will return soon to this remote and wild area that is part of our history. The path through the mountain pass and along the desert creek was one of our most beautiful and unique hikes.  It was an added bonus to discover this historic mine.  

Definitely, this is one of our “Top Ten Hikes!”  

Every afternoon we relaxed together in the shade of the towering sycamore trees.  Dan worked on building several model cars, and I knitted a purple wool sweater to keep our granddaughter, Hannah, warm next winter.

One afternoon while sitting quietly together after a hike, we were very rudely disturbed by a series of the most eerie obnoxious bellows.  A humongous and the most ugly bull we had ever seen had snuck up behind us.  We very quickly vacated our camp chairs.  

After some time, another bull appeared.  The hideous bulls finally decided to leave us alone.  We were certainly staying far away from them!

Late that night we were awakened repeatedly by more strange bellows.  Our guess is that we were out camping during mating season.  We’re glad that we had “steered” clear of that angry bull.   Ha ha.

Due to the creek nearby and lovely trees towering over us, we were constantly serenaded by birds singing at our campsite.  Several beautiful large buzzards soared overhead searching for carrion.  See the buzzard perched in the tree.  It hauntingly eyed us for the longest time.

Luckily we moved around our in campsite so the buzzard flew away, and we made it home safely.