Suzanne and I spent the day in Aravaipa Canyon yesterday. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! It was a bit of a drive to get there, but worth it. The canyon is several miles long with a creek running through it. It is one of the few creeks that flows year round in Arizona. We'd walk along one side of the creek, then be blocked by a canyon wall and hop over to the other side of the creek for a while, then there were spots with rock walls on both sides and we'd hike right up through the creek for a ways. The water felt sooo nice. We read that it would take an strong hiker 11 hours to hike to the other end. We weren't quite up to a 22 hour round trip, so we hiked a couple hours in, then a couple hours back out.
Guess what we saw?? Alright, you'll never guess so I'll tell you. A javelina. Who would ever think you'd run into one of those? A friend asked me last night what a javelina was. Well, kind of like"Pumbaa". Only this one didn't talk, sing or dance. (Actually, Pumbaa is a wart hog, not a javelina, but I wouldn't like to be in close proximity to either one).
Another not so nice surprise we saw, almost stepped on was . . . want to guess?
Cree-ee-ee-py!!! It was HUGE, probably about 5 feet long and it freaked us out! And see the rocks just to the left of the snake? That is the trail we were walking on. Luckily, it was a lazy snake and had no intention of taking out two shrieking lady hikers. I usually walk in front of Suzanne. I don't know why, but we always fall into that pattern when we walk together. For whatever reason, Suzanne was in front of me when we came upon our deadly friend. (Suzanne, did you notice I stayed behind you most of the rest of the day? That was a little bit on purpose.)
Cree-ee-ee-py!!! It was HUGE, probably about 5 feet long and it freaked us out! And see the rocks just to the left of the snake? That is the trail we were walking on. Luckily, it was a lazy snake and had no intention of taking out two shrieking lady hikers. I usually walk in front of Suzanne. I don't know why, but we always fall into that pattern when we walk together. For whatever reason, Suzanne was in front of me when we came upon our deadly friend. (Suzanne, did you notice I stayed behind you most of the rest of the day? That was a little bit on purpose.)We also saw a squirrel the size of our Lexi, a deer, a million lizards, and I was surprised to see how many fish were in such a shallow creek. I suppose we may have seen some other life form up on the cliffs, but we were kind on concentrating down on our feet, for obvious reasons. There are supposed to be a lot of big horn sheep in the canyon.
I think I'll have to go again sometime. Anyone want to go?
8 comments:
Sounds divine! I know Brandon camped there once with the scouts or priest or something, good thing I didn't know all those critters were lurking around, or I'd have secind thoughts about him going! I love little "tucked" away places! Great pictures!
Me! Me! Me! Pick me! I wanna go.
I saw a javelina just last week up by the Salt River just north of Mesa here...
Me! Me! Me! Pick me! I wanna go.
I saw a javelina just last week up by the Salt River just north of Mesa here...
I'd volunteer, it looks breath taking, but I really don't deal well with snake of that magnitude. Or snakes of any magnitude. I'd very honestly either throw up or wet my pants or both. And you can bet I'd be crying. We had harmless little garden snakes in our yard in Ohio and I couldn't sleep for months after the first sighting. I woke up in heated sweats every night from my snake infested nightmares.
Yeah, I'm with Katie...and I don't really do well with Javelina either. I'm pretty sure I could handle the lizards, squirrels, and a deer. I'll get back to you on that.
Did I mention my achilles tendon is all better????
Where is this? I think I missed where if you did say. How did you learn about it? What time of day did you go? And do you carry anti-venom?
I am devastated with envy.
This hike has been on my list for a while and I am so glad we got to go. I am so glad Cindy is willing to fall in with some of my plans! We'll have to get some folks together to go again. They limit access to 50 people total per day. You can get a permit online.
I am so glad we weren't bitten by any snakes!
How far of a drive was it? I saw the first picture and wanted to go. I am all about the creatures, too! So pick me! I promise not to be as naughty as I was at Rachel's concert.
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