Sunflower to Pine

April 23 (plus the prep of getting to the trail head)

While in San Diego we kept checking the trail conditions from Sunflower to Flagstaff. Due to commitments for the summer we knew we couldn’t go past Flagstaff. After hearing that the Grand Canyon trail was being closed to the North Rim, that information made our decision easy to return this fall to do the last section. The superbloom is also a part of San Diego. Taking a walk at a nearby park the flowers were quite impressive.

I made several phone calls to RV parks in Payson and in Pine. Trying to weigh the pros and cons of where to leave our van. I finally decided to leave it at the Pine RV park which worked out fine. We left San Diego on the 21 and headed East. In late Feb. when we first headed to Arizona there was snow along the interstate, now it is hot and temperatures in the 90’s. We make it to Phoenix and park overnight in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. The next day we head to Pine by way of Camp Verde. Once again we pass fields of yellow! There is some snow in the forests as we head to Pine, but it seems like it is melting fast. Before we get to Pine we get a text from our hiker friend Numbers. She has just arrived to Pine and is at the Ponderosa Market. We plan on meeting her there and catch up on her hike. We discuss some hiking possibilities. She is planning on taking a week off from hiking. The week she is not hiking we would be hiking the section from Sunflower to Pine. She would like to meet up with us when we arrive to Pine and hike the section from Pine to Flagstaff. Sounds good to us. The next morning we drop her and another hiker(who is going to climb Denali with a NOLS course this summer) off in Payson. We head back to Pine, pack up our packs and meet our shuttle driver who will take us to Sunflower. It is about a an hour drive and we arrive around 2:30. We have returned to the trail and get ready to hike.

This is the underpass that we had camped at when we hiked to Sunflower almost a month ago. At that time there was a stream running thru the underpass. Today though it is dry and we walk thru to the other side.

We feel fortunate that the hiking today will be mostly on flat to slightly up hill terrain. A three week break didn’t help our hiking fitness level.

It is obvious that there has been recent trail work. A lot of the rocks have been removed and the surface is nice to walk on. We feel we are back in the land of flowers as we see more poppies and cactus in bloom

This orange poppy stood out as did the Blooming hedge hog cactus

We stop often to take in the beauty of the flowers.

A hikers named Skully is resting under a shade tree. He also has restarted his hike today. He walks his own pace and will eventually get to where he is going. We wish him well and head to the first water source which is about 6 miles in. We decide to have dinner here and are serenaded by several very loud frogs. They are under a bank, but we can see the outline of their throats as they puff them out. We find a place to camp shortly after and are ready to call it a day. It is good to be back on the trail and we are tired!

April 24

We were in bed by 7:30 last night and sleep came quickly. Can’t say that we heard anything at all till 5 when it was time to rise. We packed our packs inside our tent and we were on the trail by 6. No lights needed as it was light enough to see the trail. We pass a couple of hikers who are just getting out of their tents. We learn later that we have a mutual friend. The trail this morning goes up and then down into drainages where we find water.

On a Far Out comment we stop at the last water source. There won’t be any water for 10 miles.

We take a break here, drink lots of water and get psyched to climb up towards Mt.Pealy with lots of water.

Our packs our heavy with all the water and 4 days worth of food. The day is hot and we begin the climb up.

There is very little to no shade and I am miserable. To add to our misery there are gnats which just love to fly into your mouth.

We make like a lizard and try to slip under some shade which really doesn’t work. So it is one step at a time as we head up. We see this sign and realize that we have hiked over 400 miles!

At least the views are quite nice.

Finally we make it to the pine trees and are graced with their shade, We want to make sure that we have some water left for the morning. We decide to camp the first place we see as the elevation and heat of the day has made us ready for bed.

The wind is blowing pretty strong we stake out the tent well, eat dinner and head to bed. Tomorrow we will need to go about 2 miles to Bear Spring. It is mostly down hill so with that in mind and the fact that it will be cooler we go to sleep with no water stress.

Miles hiked 15

April 25

We are always amazed at our bodies when we wake up recovered after feeling so tired yesterday. We are on the trail by 5;30 and heading to Bear Spring which is the reliable water source for this stretch of trail. After an hour of hiking we head to the junction for the trail that will lead us to the spring. The two hikers that we saw yesterday are camped here. The trail is flat leading to the spring and when we get there we filter some water for breakfast and for the trail, It has a sulfuric taste but filters clear.

Shortly after we are back on the trail, our eyes are focused on a tree top where we hear a bird singing loudly, not sure if he is happy that it is morning or if he is singing for a mate. We later find out that it is a black headed Grossbeak

We walk thru several burned forests and are thankful that there are no fires yet.

The hike this morning provides us with lots of scenic views.

A squirrel, horned toad and lizard are also posing.

Its a fun trail this morning with lots of different plant life.

And then there is the trail…..

and more rocks make up the trail

At a stream, we meet up with the two hikers that we have been leap frogging. They are a brother and sister. She has hiked the PCT and gotten the name Greenlight. Her brother is hiking this as a first timer and lives in San Diego. We have a mutual friend that lives in San Diego and works for NOLS.

The water here is nice and clear. We fill up and filter.

The rocky stream, looks just like the trail that we have been hiking on! We continue on taking the trail up to a ridge that has a great camping spot with views all around. The wind is blowing, but starts to die after we head to bed.

Miles hiked 16.5

April 26

By morning the wind has died and we head down the valley. We hike thru a lush forest on our way to a water source 4 miles away.

We are never sure what to expect on this trail. In a very short time one can be in a variety of eco systems.

We find a creek bed with large pools of water. The first pool we come to looks good so we stop to have breakfast.

This drainage had plenty of water and we could have stopped numerous times to fill up our water bottles.

Todays main landform is the Verde River. In the beginning of April this water body was flowing quite high with reports of the water coming up to the chest of an almost 6 foot person. The latest reports are of it being much lower, just an easy wade. I guess we will find out. As we are eating breakfast a hiker passes us. Her name is Dora and she has taken time off from work the last two years to do a lot of hiking. She said I am not a fast hikers, but I put in long hours sounds like our hiking mode.

We eventually make it to the point on the trail where we can look down to the verde valley.

It is going to take us awhile to get to the bottom.

We take a break before heading down.

It is going to be a hot hike to the river. There isn’t going to be much shade today. One item that we left behind this section is our umbrella for shade. We hope that we don’t regret it,

As we head down the trail, we feel like we are back in the superbloom era. There are a multitude of colors. From oranges, to yellow ,to red, to purple to white!!!!

So many colors to keep as entertained as we walked down the winding path.

And finally after having to hike up a small hill and then back down again, we came to the Verde River.

By the time we got here our bodies were hot and we couldn’t wait to cross the river. It was below our knees and it felt so refreshing. In fact after we crossed it I headed back in to take a dip. I could have stayed here all day, but we needed to keep moving.

Once we crossed to the other side, there was Dora also taking a break. A nice clear stream was flowing in to the river. We talked to Dora while we soaked our feet and enjoyed the shade.

It was hard to leave this oasis, but we really didn’t have a choice as we need to average 15 miles per day.

The vegetation is quite green as we head down the trail.

It is always fun to look behind us and see where we have hiked today. Early this morning we were just working our way down the mountains.

We are back in cow country, but the cows take one look at us and scurry away. We are back to hiking up a hill and feel really fortunate that the trail we are on has some occasional shade. Once we get to the top we are walking on a plateau that it is obvious that the snow has been here pretty recently.

The plentiful white rocks remind us of the ocean floor. They even have holes that look like sea urchins once lived there. We find a spot that has been used before and set up our tent. The dirt is still soft and our tent stakes go in easily. It probably won’t be long till the earth hardens making putting in stakes quite difficult. It is quite warm tonight. we are 2000 feet lower than last night.

I think back to our time on the Verde River and realize how much we have missed water on this hike.

Miles hiked 16.5

April 27

A warm and windless night was experienced. It would be 4 miles before we would get to Rock Creek where we hoped to find water for the day. More flowers and a lot of rocks made up this section of hiking. It was great for eye foot coordination as we walked the trail trying to avoid ankle turning rocks.

ROCKS

We are heading to Rock Creek using rock trail!

Finally we arrived to the stream and felt so blessed by its beauty.

Don quickly gets out the filter and filters our water for breakfast and the day, There may be more water but this one is rated as good.

We could linger here as well, the cool of the morning along with plenty of water make this an ideal spot.

Time to move on and we set our sights on getting to Pine where our van is parked. The trail up from the stream continues to be quite rocky and if the trail continues in this fashion, we will not be at Pine today.

One advantage of walking on a rocky trail is that you continually have your eyes on the trail. This object made me jump backwards and then I realized that it was not a venomous snake but the docile gopher snake that was just warming up its body.

We left the wilderness area and the trail took on a new look, it was rockless! Our speed increased and perhaps we would be back on track to make it to Pine.

Always have time to check out the flowers on the way.

Too bad we aren’t here in a couple of days when this cactus starts blooming. So many blooms.

And then there was this prickly pear cactus, No blooms, but hearts.

We are back to a desert landscape as the trail passes thus a prickly pear forest.

And one last flower photo for the day

The trail was mostly down hill to Pine and with the recent trail work this last section was a cruise.

We made it to the Pine trailhead by 3. Plenty of time to wash the dirt out of our socks, do laundry, take a shower and eat ice cream. We also ate a meal at the Pine Tavern, one of the few restaurants that was opened. We checked in with Numbers who is back in Payson and the plan is to meet up tomorrow. Who knows we may be back on the trail tomorrow.

Miles Hiked 15.5

Arizona Trail 2023