February 14, 2013

Desert Sky

Apache Junction, AZ

(South Mountain Hike)

            On a previous visit to the Phoenix area in 2009, Monte and I had taken a ride up South Mountain.  We stopped at a trailhead and walked the trail for a short distance.  We weren’t prepared for a hike so we turned back vowing to return one day. 

            Today was that day.  We took US-60 towards Phoenix for 23 miles before merging onto I-10 east.  We took the 155 exit (Baseline RD) and continued for 6 miles turning left on Central Avenue for a couple of miles until entering South Mountain Park/Preserve.       

 

 

 

 I thought I remembered paying a day use fee on our previous visit but when we approached the booth at the entrance it was closed and there was no sign indicating there was a fee.

        

 

 

    The road up the mountain winds around offering spectacular views of the city.  We encountered a few cyclists on our way up and because of the frequent turns it made it difficult to pass them.

  I am always impressed of the stamina it must take to pedal up steep mountain roads. 

 

 

 

 

Our first stop was Dobbins Lookout.  Because we had already been there before and it was getting late we only stayed long enough to take some pictures and eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I had made us for lunch.

 

Spectacular view of Phoenix.

 

 

 

 

 

These photos was taken from the stone structure at Dobbins Lookout.

 

We continued on to the Buena Vista Lookout, the trailhead for both the National and Hidden Valley Trails.

 

 

  The beginning of the trail is very rocky with several elevation gains before descending into the valley. 

 

 

 

 

We have been on several different hikes since arriving in Arizona and I never get tired of drinking in the beauty of the desert and mountains and South Mountain is no exception. 

Monte found a perfect rock for taking a rest.

 

 Between Monte and I, we took over 300 pictures.  The difficult part is trying to select the ones to upload to this journal.

The view from the start of the trail.

 

 

As we continually descended I kept thinking how much "fun" it was going to be climbing up on the return trip. 

We moved over to yield to cyclists several times along the way.  Again I marveled at their stamina and ability to ride on such rocky terrain. 

 

 

 

 

We came across this tree that someone had placed Christmas balls on.

I didn't have a marker so I put a bandaid on one of the balls and wrote our names and date.

One of many cairns that mark the trail.

 

 

 

 

We made a little detour when we came to the sign for Hidden Valley.

 

 

  Monte unsuccessfully tried fitting through a crevice in the boulders.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I sat down to rest for a few minutes while Monte climbed up the rocks to see the condition of the trail ahead of us.

 

 

 

 We stopped at the 2.5 miles mark at 3pm.

These are some of the views from our turn around point.

 

  We wanted to allow extra time to return because we were going to have to climb. 

 

 Our “dogs” were starting to bark so when we reached the part of the trail where we knew we only had a half a mile to go, we were relieved.

 

Thank goodness for those natural "chairs."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We came across a couple of cyclists.

 

  While Monte chatted with them I climbed to the top of a small hill to see what I could see from there.

 

 

 

 

I was rewarded by absolutely spectacular views of the city and valley.

Continuing on our way, we were quite happy to see the parking lot.

 

We decided to take a quick ride up to Gila Lookout.

     Communications towers fill the summit area

 as well as a great view of Gila Valley.

 

 

Our view as we descended the mountain.

 

We were getting hungry and being that it was Valentine’s Day we decided to splurge with a pricey dinner out.  I remembered eating at cutesy type restaurant on one of my solo visits to Phoenix to visit with my daughter.  First we needed to get gas so we stopped at a Circle K and filled up at $3.48 per gallon.  We thought that was a good price until we came across another Circle K charging $3.42 per gallon.  It figures.  But the price we paid was still better than the $3.60 being charged in Apache Junction.

We hit a little traffic on our way to the restaurant (Rustler’s Rooste) and when we pulled into the parking lot we almost gave up because it was full.

 

  But we noticed a sign for overflow that led us down a hill.  We found a parking spot and walked up the hill.  I was totally out of breath by the time I got to the top.

  There was a long line inside the door waiting to check in with the hostess.  I overheard several people saying they had reservations.  Uh Oh. 

 

 

 

 

 

But when it was our turn, to my surprise we were told there would be no wait.  The hostess, escorting us to our table, gave us the option of walking down the stairs or sliding down a slide.

   Since I had already had the experience of the slide on my previous visit, I went down the stairs so I could take a picture of Monte as he slide down. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We followed the hostess to a patio area filled with picnic benches,

 a live band
 and large heaters. 

The heaters turned out to be overkill.  They really throw out a lot of heat-too much.  One of the other diners must have felt the same way because to my relief the heater closest to us was turned off. 

 

The waiter brought our drink order along with a family size bowl of salad, a basket that was filled with fresh-baked biscuits and Indian fry bread and cinnamon butter.

 

  Both Monte and I went with the “Rustler’s Cut”, a ten ounce sirloin steak.

 

   It came with green beans, corn on the cob and a crock of cowboy beans for us to share. 

 Monte’s steak was cooked exactly how he likes it-medium rare.

 

I made the mistake of ordering my well done.  It was like a hockey puck.  I know I should have sent it back but I have heard too many horror stories about things done to the food in the kitchen.  So I just drowned my steak in steak sauce and it was okay. 

 

I should have know better when I ordered my steak well done because right on the menu it states, "Well Done! No pink here! (Just don't mistake it for your boot)."  They weren't kidding.

One of the things I love about Monte is his ability to make me laugh.

 

       





When we were full we both asked for containers and brought home at least half the steak for another meal.

Of course I had to use the restroom before we left.

On the way out of the restaurant we stopped to take some pictures from the outdoor patio and at the exit. 

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     I was very full and thought walking around would help me digest so I suggested to Monte that we stop at Fry’s Electronics that was just down the road from the restaurant.

  There was a time when I wouldn’t have been able to get Monte out of a store like Fry’s for at least a couple of hours.  But that was in the past when all things electronic interested him.  BUT now that we live in such a small area we can only have what we really need and Monte has shifted his interest to things like solar power and RV-related things.

When we left Fry’s I was glad that we only had a half hour ride home because I was exhausted.  It had been a most excellent day and a big part of what made it excellent was spending it with my sweetheart. 

 Happy Valentine’s Day.