We walked in our own footsteps today and returned 2-1/2 years later to one of our favorite hikes. We camped in the same place on the Sycamore River as we had 2-1/2 years ago. The first time we were here it was early spring, the river was running swiftly with small swimming holes nestled in the canyons.
This time, a few days before Halloween, the river was a dry creek bed filled with rocks. The leaves on the Sycamore trees that shade our Turtle (truck/slide-in camper) have turned bright orange and create music as they rustle in the fall breeze.
We have also changed. We are older, in our mid-seventies now, and cannot hike as fast or as long as we could even a few years ago. But we can hike, even on this rocky road/trail that winds through deep canyons and over rocky riverbeds, far into the mountains to the Sunflower mine. And we are happy that we can hike among all the beauty that surrounds us.
The second hike on this post from our blog is a journal of our trek 2-1/2 years ago in the springs ago to the Sunflower Mine:
https://livinginthebedofapickup.blogspot.com/2021/04/on-edge-of-mazatzal-wilderness.html
Today we were not able to hike all the way to the mine, but we had a wonderful time, as we always do when we’re together.
Look what we found…an old handmade square nail. It must be close to a hundred years old!
It’s unimaginable the amount of work it must have taken to build this road through the mountain canyons in the 1920’s! Much of the road has deteriorated into massive rocks that are impassible, so the trail has been detoured into the riverbed in many areas.
But decades later a bridge still exists 1 & 1/2 miles up the canyon.
Luckily, we could cross the ravine as we don’t exceed 5 tons. No Danny, you are not too heavy. You are just perfect as you are.
As we hiked into the mountains a caravan of six jeeps and, believe it or not, an old Bronco slowly trudged by us, as they headed up the trail toward the mine. They were definitely decked out with massive tires, springs, and jacked up far off the ground.
We were still amazed to see that they were able to climb up this three foot rock ledge! As you can see, we could barely climb up without pulling each other up. Or climb down without without sitting and sliding off the edge on our bottoms.
But we, happily, did make it safely off the ledge. At least we won’t have to answer “yes” to the question we get asked every time we visit a doctor these days….”have you had any falls lately?”
After we got back to our campsite we had a interesting and fun encounter with two men who ran by the camper. They had run down the road that leads to the Arizona Trail, 1,100’ above us. So Dan asked if they had been running the AZT. When they answered “yes”, he asked if they knew our daughter, Candice Burt.
That stopped them in their tracks, “Oh my gosh, we’re in the company of royalty—Candice’s parents!”
It turns out that one of them had run two of Candice’s races, The Orcas Island 50 mile and the Bigfoot 200. He is now training with his buddy for the 2024 Tahoe 200.
Here they are happily posing for us, ‘The Royalty.’
We gave them water, Coke, and V-8 Juice before they continued their training run. What great, friendly men. We hope to see them again at one of Candice’s races.
Tonight when we go to bed, hold each other, and talk about our day, we’ll say to each other, “This was a good day….a day worth living.”
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