Sunday, Jan. 19

I’m always drawn to the mountains, so I found a bike trail that ran along the base of some mountains. I had to bike in and out of shallow, dried up creek beds about every 100 feet. At the bottom of every bed was loose pea-gravel and it made difficult to maneuver my bike. When I entered a deeper creek bed, my speed increased as I descended. Since I had not finished mountain biking 101, I unknowing used both my front and back brakes. Big Mistake! I lost control of my front wheel in the gravel and flew head-first over the handlebars. While airborne, time seemed to slow down and I was able plan my crash into the gravel below. I hit hard and slid all the way to the bottom of the bed. Luckily, I stopped right before contacting a mean-looked cactus. A second later, my flying bike came plunging down into me and pushed me into the angry cactus. OUCH!! I laid motionless waiting to discover my injuries. Nothing seemed to be broken and the only pain I felt was the cactus embedded into my shoulder. I slowly got up and continued evaluating myself. Blood was running down my leg and arm. It didn’t appear to be gushing blood, so I figured I just had a bad case of road-rash. It was painful pulling the cactus needles out of my shoulder, but luckily they weren’t in too far. Since I was in pretty good shape, my ride became a bike/hike – bike on the flat trail and hike through the creek beds.

Knowing that it would upset Lois to see all my dried blood, I cleaned up at the camp’s restrooms before returning to the Ham. 

Click on this link to view the bike ride. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bp9qqh8URRVTo6dE8

Monday, Jan. 20

I felt like I had been hit by a truck, or bike, when I woke up this morning. Today was going to be a day of joining Carol and Lois in the sun.

Tuesday, Jan. 21

Back to another of our favorites, McDowell Mountain. Of the regional parks around Phoenix, this one has the same great views and the best bike trails. The only problem is that my tires are flat from the cactus needles. A biker at Tractor Supply introduced me to Slime. What amazing stuff. The tires hold air again.

It was raining when we got to the park. When we checked in at the main gate, they directed us to a different site than we had reserved. After driving from Tucson, leveling the Ham, hooking up the electric and water and calibrating the TV antenna, I was finally able to sit back and relax. Moments later, there was a knock at the door. The person at the gate gave this site to the wrong Hamilton. The cap host made break camp and move two sites away. To put it politely, I did some serious grumbling.

Wednesday, Jan. 22

Sometimes our morning walks are eventful with two dogs. We couldn’t even image what it was like with these people.

I went exploring on my bike to an area of the park that had not been to before – mostly desert. The trail pointed in the direction of some low mountains. The slight downhill slope made the pedaling easy and fun as I weaved through the desert. Anytime you’re hiking/biking, you always know that the time out is about the same time back. Normally, you’re going up a mountain, so going back down is easier and faster. I had been biking for about an hour and a half and it was time to go back – uphill. The return trip was neither easy, fun or faster. It took me over two grueling hours to get back.

Thursday, Jan. 23

After seeing the pack of dogs yesterday, we had to be careful exiting the Ham with our dogs. I can’t image the disturbance it would make if they were right outside of our RV.

Last year I rode towards McDowell Mountain, but didn’t make it to the base. Today, I’m going all the way. The trail is a gradual incline for miles to a great visa point of the mountain. This is where I stopped last year. It then dropped off into a dried river bed. As I got closer to the mountain, the trail went up and became rocky. There were parts that had to be hiked. Right at the base I found the “Mushrooms.” They were very cool and I was glad that I had continued to the base. The descent back to camp was most enjoyable.

Click on the link to view the bike ride. https://photos.app.goo.gl/UAWASV9C3ZVVGqBj6

Friday, Jan. 23

We drove to another park in Phoenix at the base of Flatiron Mountain – Lost Dutchman SP. Flatiron is the most impressive mountain in the Phoenix area. This is a very popular, congested park, so it’s a little more noisy here. We were lucky to have some nice bushes around our site that gave us some privacy. They also provided a place for local birds to hide. Lois spent most of the day sitting outside with the sunshine and watching the Grambel’s quail.

Lois and Carol are watching birds and relaxing in the sun, so I’m going to find some mountain views to photograph. I biked a couple of miles to a trailhead and started towards a mountain waterfalls. The first mile was in and out of dried creek beds that got a little annoying. Eventually, I started climbing and the views started getting exciting. I kept having to take my phone  of my pocket to take picture after picture. After two hours of hiking and enjoying the great scenery, I began to get tired and wondered how far it was to the falls. When I got the answer from a returning hiker, I wasn’t thrilled with the information. That’s when Forrest Gump’s run across America popped into my head. Forrest stopped, stood silent for a moment and said, “I’m pretty tired… I think I’ll go home now.” So that’s what I did.

Click on this link to view the hike. https://photos.app.goo.gl/vcDwtEmfARiWup4k7