CrossRoads Blog

Seems when Kimberly and I get out on a Saturday or Sunday for a great hike I seem to enjoy it more, and get more addicted to hiking each and every time. This feeling continued yesterday when we spent a near perfect day out East of Phoenix in the Superstition Mountains on the Boulder Canyon Trail (103) (close by Canyon Lake). After the hike we also enjoyed the rest of the day in the area by scooting over to Tortilla Flats for an ice cream, and hitting Goldfield Ghost Town for a wake up coffee then a chill-out libation with some live country tunes at the ‘local’ saloon.

Talk about getting lucky, we had long figured our nearby ‘Desert Hikes’ were over until late Fall comes around. But a system brought in a huge weather aberration and near perfect hiking temps. Last week we had 110 degrees in the shade, yesterday was 75 as a high - amazing. There were slight sprinkles but nothing major, and being a relatively tough hike, we appreciated the cool temps heading uphill where this old man was sweating away even at 70 degrees.

The Boulder Canyon Trail is one of the first hikes we ever did in Arizona. In 1995 we took the (then 3rd and 4th grade) sons of ours out and hit the same trail. We did about 5 miles worth that day and due to crazy hot temperatures, lots of elevation and poor drinking water planning (hey we were new to Phoenix) we never did make our goal of hitting the creek. So this was our ‘make up’ hike. Aside from the water bit that old hike had another experience that taught us about desert hiking (just ask now 24 yr old Mike about tripping near ugly sword like cactus).

All told we did only about 8 miles total, but with a little exploration of one of the creeks, checking out the abandoned Indian Paint Mine, taking pictures, and enjoying a nice lunch with a beautiful view again, it was more than enough. Five hours total and another 4,000 Net elevation gain. This hike also had a little drama and the Mrs. had a brief period of non enjoyment following a particularly deep growl from a nearby location. Yes, there are some, shall we call them “kitty-cats” out there. I’m okay with the Cats, it’s more the Mama Bears that I don’t want to run into. By the way, the growl was more that of a Mountain Lion (AZ variety pic here) than a Bobcat, but I told Kimberly it was likely just a small little Bobcat - so let’s keep that our secret okay?

We had gotten to the trailhead by about 8:50 or so (up at 5:15) so we were off by 2:00. Seeing Tortilla Flats is only a short 2 miles from Canyon Lake and the trail, and wanting to fully replicate that day 10 years ago, we just HAD to go over there and have some ice cream. Grabbed some Pecan Praline and pulled up a rock on the creek….life is good. We then left Tortilla Flats, and stopped by Goldfield on our way back trough Apache Junction. That place is growing, a little touristy, but hey, sometimes that funky kitschy old west vibe goes good with a beer and a burger… Speaking of which we passed on there and came home and grilled up a couple of nice ones to close out the day.

Wonder how other folks spend their Saturdays?!! PICTURES HERE

By Kimberly

On May 18th, 2008 Tim and Stephanie were married in the beautiful setting of The Arrowhead Country Club. Friends and family braved the 100 plus degree heat to share this special day with the happy couple. Stephanie was a glow with happiness and Tim looked handsome but a bit nervous although later he shared that it was due to too much fun at his bachelor party the night prior, lol. Following the ceremony there was a reception at our home. We had a good turnout….including several unexpected non-RSVP folks… which is another story altogether. The Desert Flowers danced for the reception and one of the Flowers even did a special love hula dance for the couple. It was great for us to be able to share in this special occasion with Tim and Steph.

PICTURES OF THE WEDDING AND RECEPTION HERE

I can’t wait to retire… Travel the world with my amazing and lovely woman, experience cultures, hike the world’s great trails, and see the best artists perform live music in the best venues. Can somebody share a spare $3M or so? I promise my retirement needs are getting less and less everyday.

Speaking of traditions (a previous post), I think going to a live Robert Cray Band is now past a ‘tradition’ phase and moved more into the ‘life’s givens’ realm. More like birthday’s, holiday’s and anniversary’s, always have been and always will be. We must surely qualify as 40 something year old groupies by now, as with the recent show here last evening we are fast approaching having seen the Band some 50 times now. I think we are also into about 10 states, 25 cites and even more venues. Can you say we dig that RCB vibe!

Another great night, another great show — not sure how else to say it. While the set list was very familiar (a little bit of a bummer considering the amazing musical catalouge this band has) the shows are always, always a great way to spend an evening. We even had another chance to hang out with Mr. Jim (Jim Pugh) the amazingly talented piano and keyboard player for the band. Jim is a great guy, and it’s way cool to spend some time with him whenever we get a chance.

The backup band was Guitar Shorty (and he even gets the post picture with the Mrs.). Shorty put on a great set, and I really liked one track he did from an upcoming album which I will be sure to pick up. We wanted to follow the guys down to Tucson for the next night - for that matter it would have been nice to see them in Vegas the night before, or head out to the Doheny Beach Festival they were playing at on Saturday (we have been to all of these venues), but alas more important things to attend to (Yes, can yo believe it - more important than an RCB show??) - Stephanie and Tim’s Wedding (which is a whole other Blog…)

The adventure began with me doing some sales job on best bud and Business Partner Clay. Something about “this will be a weekend you can tell your Grandkids about, and one you will remember for life, and how many weekends can you say you will remember forever….” or some such. It progressed with me getting lucky enough to get a backcountry permit, and next think you knew Clay and I were headed off to the Grand Canyon to attempt and experience something few on this planet will ever get to do – A Rim to Rim to Rim Hike. Basically a trek that takes you from the trailhead at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon down to the Colorado, then up to the North Rim and then all the way back to the South Rim from whence you started.

Ever since March when Kimberly and I got to experience the Canyon up close for our Anniversary and spend some time at Bright Angel Campground and Phantom Ranch I had been thinking about this trip. I knew it would be an amazing challenge and an amazing experience. Man it did not disappoint!

I wrote a real long trip report for a website called Grand Canyon Hikers, so I will not repeat the whole saga. If you want to read that just click on the line at the end that says “READ THE REST OF THIS STORY” following this post. It’s a little more formal as it was not written for friends and family and more for information for the other nut cases who want to make the trek – but it does give very detailed info on our trip.

We took a decent amount of pictures (whenever we had time) that can be seen HERE. We also took a lot of video and put it HERE.

The Stats from the Trip:
1. 50 Miles
2. 50 Hours
3. 20,000 feet or so net elevation gains (and drops of course)
4. Animals seen – A pink Rattler I about stepped on (you will see in the video), a huge scorpion that joined me in the Portapot, a zillion lizards, mosquitoes at the top of the North Rim, a ‘mutant squirrel (as Clay called it) with a white tail, a ton of birds, and just about every other insect you can think of
5. 2 Blisters (Clay’s was getting ugly toward the end)
6. Very Little Sleep
7. 5 Bags of Dehydrated Food and a lot of Protein Bars
8. Trails completed – The S Kaibab, the Bright Angel, the North Kaibab, and a Ribbon Falls side trip

For the whole story click the Link following

(more…)

Good friends Allan and Ena Corupe invited us down to El Golfo De Santa Clara, Mexico for a great weekend of Sun, Sand, Beach, and Dune riding recently. What a great place and good time we had.

El Golfo (as it’s better known) is about an hour and a half south of Yuma on the Sea of Cortez. This is the first time we have headed that direction as normally we venture on down Rocky Point way when we are looking for that nearby ‘Laid back Mexico vibe’. It seems to be an up and coming location, but still very sparsely populated and really all about the Dunes (for ATV, Rhino and dirt bike riding) and the Beach as the won is nothing more than a few shops and lot’s of compressed air tanks (more on this).

Allan and Ena’s got a place right on the beach where they can plop the Toy Hauler (more of a mini-resort really) their Rhino, and the rest of the beach bound toys. The beach is still mostly unspoiled and butts up against sand dunes and hills that are just perfect for all the Dunes toys one may have. Alan and Ena have a Rhino to play with there, and their friends who had joined them with their Motor home also had a Rhino and a neat little sand rail type machine that looked fun as heck to tool around the beach and hills on.

The weekend was filled with all kinds of fun including a nighttime Dune ride on the toys (lot’s of sand in the eye’s – next time wear the goggles), sitting around the fire at night doing some grilling and sipping tequila (yeah man!), a nice hike on the beach, and enjoying the company. We also had one full day at the beach where we tooled up the beach an nice secluded spot to setup. This was quit the interesting trip. Seeing we had 9 of us and a couple of dogs, plus all the food and fun stuff for the day we wanted to take, I decided to drive the old Durango to the spot. The two Rhino’s and the rail were all pretty full. Well at the time of day we were heading to find a spot it was about as high as the tide gets. This area, like Rocky Point has a huge tidal change. Within hours the tide can be in our out hundreds of yards. Anyway, so we start to drive up the beach. After about only a half mile or so, the tide is up so high there is really no way to take the truck down the beach anymore so that means heading into the Dunes a little and finding a new route. I’ll skip the long story but let’s just say there was one hill it took 4 attempts and lowering my air in the tires (hence the cities many air compressors) down to well less than half full, and another spot that without a nice pitch and fishtail move by yours truly we would still be stuck in a wash in the middle of the Mexican Senoran desert. Fun stuff… being young and crazy like that. Course it helps that the truck is about 10 years old now and I really never have had much chance to use 4WD :-).

We are looking forward to heading back again soon as the Corupe’s are down there for 2 weeks over Memorial Day time frame – it’s just hard to beat spectacular beach, good food, good company and free digs at Casa Corupe’s.

CHECK OUT THE PICS HERE (and that sunset….wow)