hiking

I hiked for a couple hours tonight in Dreamy Draw park while the sun was setting -- GORGEOUS !!!Last Friday, Suzanne planned a hiking day in Aravaipa Canyon. She and I have been there several times before, but not so early in the year. We were a bit worried as we arrived at the canyon before 9 am and the air was a bit cold. This hike requires a lot of walking through the water, the trail criss-crosses the creek as it winds through the canyon. We were worried it would be too cold as we got wet. It was quite cold on our feet on the first pass, and I thought we would need to shorten our planned hike because of the discomfort, but as the day progressed, it warmed up and was quite pleasant. We have seen quite a bit of wildlife on previous hikes and much more greenery. I missed the green in the canyon that is so brilliant later in the spring. We hiked 2 hours in and had a picnic lunch, then hiked 2 hours out. The only problem is that we had a few spills. Suzanne's foot slid out from under her literally 2 steps into our hike. That's a bad omen for the day. Her niece Keegan took a spill in the water that knocked her onto her knees as her foot hit a rock wrong. Sadly, the worst fall was me. I stepped into the water to cross on the rocky creek bed, but my foot hit some slick mud under the water instead of rocks. As my foot was slipping, I tried to steady myself with my other foot which also slipped on the mud and I went completely onto my back into the water. Had it been in May, I would have welcomed the cool water soaking my clothes, but the day's temperatures disagreed with swimming. After I got up, I had to find a spot to get back in the water to wash off the mud.
All in all, it was a fun day. Suzanne and Keegan talked Melanie into playing hooky from school and go with us, Cindi and another friend, Paul came too. It was a pleasant day. It is one of my favorite hikes. I wish it wasn't quite so far away though.