A friend of mine and I took a one
week hike up the Verde River in
We parked in the parking lot near the sheep bridge that goes over the river. It is very narrow and there are hot-springs below it. It was a spectacular way to begin the hike.
The trail runs parallel to the river as it winds back and forth north. Most of the trail is very sandy and makes for a pretty good workout. From the ridge above the river it is a beautiful view with brown on both sides of the river and a ribbon of green running up the river.
The first night we camped next to a creek and enjoyed the beautiful weather. There was an area covered with Chyrophase geodes and we collected a few. The weather was hot during the day, but nice and cool at night.
We hiked another 8 to 10 miles the next day to some Cliff dwellings that were beside a creek, there was a small pond in front of the ruins. It was pretty neat and was a great place to take a quick swim.
The brush got pretty thick along the river and we had to hike out into the desert about ¼ of a mile from the river, to get out of the brush, so the hiking was easier. We stayed 2 days at the next camp, which was near some canyons and near another creek.
There was a hole in the rock where the creek ran. It was about 6 feet in diameter and about 5 feet deep. The water was crystal clear and very cold. The water was so cold it would give you a headache when you went under water. It was a perfect place to bathe and the running water cleared the hole quickly after bathing.
The next day as we were hiking up one of the side canyons we noticed a buzzing sound. As we got closer we notice a large number of bees flying around the area. There was a cleft in the rock about 2 feet wide, 8 feet deep and about 12 feet tall. Honeycombs ran up both sides of the crevice and all the way to the back. The sand at the bottom of the cleft was wet from the honey running down the sides of the crack in the rocks. I have never seen a hive that large before. We debated on whether to start a small fire and blow the smoke in to the crevice; neither of us wanted the honey bad enough to try it.
As we were walking back to camp we noticed large cat tracks in our tracks. A mountain lion had been following us the whole way and neither one of us saw it. Needless to say we slept a little edgy that night, but no sign of the cat around the camp the next morning. He was just probably curious.
We ran into two sets of kids with the Anasazi group, one all male and one all female. These kids go out for weeks at a time. They carry burlap sacks fashioned into packs and a sleeping bag. They are allowed to have one book to read. They are given 10lbs of rice a week and some salt. They add to what they have by trapping small animals, fishing and foraging off of the land. They are taught survival skills and how to work as a team. They had been out for about six weeks when we ran into them. They were a ragamuffin looking group. When the leaders weren’t around many of them came to us asking for one thing, “Candy”. I thought it was interesting that it wasn’t food they wanted, they wanted Candy.
We started hiking out on the 4th
day and slowly worked our way back to the vehicles by day 7. We stopped at the
It was a wonderful way to spend a week with a friend, doing what we both enjoyed most.