Getting back to the trail from Roosevelt Lake took a lot of walking and a short lift. We immediately climbed, then descended back to the highway. Since this is a holiday weekend we met day hikers on the trail.

We could hear the boats on the lake below forever. When we walked across the bridge all the boaters honked and waved at us.

The lodge was full last night so we didn't get to do laundry. We spread still-wet tent, sleeping bags, clothing and socks out over rocks to dry at lunch. Things aren't clean but it feels so good to have it all dry.

We saw our first Gila Monster! We were high on a vegetated ridge and I almost stepped on him. He stood on his toes, inflated himself and hissed with his black mouth widely opened. His peachy buff color almost matched the rocky soil. Later we took a photo looking back at Roosevelt. That photo include our Gila Monster ridge.

Another shot that we took today was of the Four Peaks that had snow on the peaks from the storm. Four Peaks Wilderness is on the route tomorrow.

We wound our way up through coarse red sand and tall green bushes. Our way would have been difficult to follow but equestriennes had ridden through leaving a trail for us. They had the advantage of sitting higher and could see the likely direction of the trail.

Our camp for the night was in the one smooth sandy area untrampled by the horses. It was a good find.

Every night I can hardly wait for for morning. Every morning I am eager to see what's new on the trail.

Today by 8am I was thrashed. The trail is so overgrown that we decided the Four Peaks Wilderness has reclaimed the trail. There is nice tread under the growth but the bushes grow across the trail solidly for long distances. Ken and I stood five feet apart on trail and couldn't see even a patch of each other.

Four day hikers met us which was an indication that we were getting near a trail head. Trail improved from that point so that we could look around to enjoy the scenery.

From the trailhead we had an eleven mile forest road walk. I loved every smooth step of the way walking out of the forested area up into weathered rocks in fantastic rounded shapes. Since it was the last day of the three day weekend I expected to see people. We had the road to ourselves until dusk when we put up our tent beside the road! A caravan of small jeeps rolled by with the drivers and passengers very interested in us and our camp.

Our moods go up and down as much as the terrain. I'm estatic to be out of the bushes.

Our campsite was high, cold and wet. We decided that the moisture was snowmelt from the earlier storm.

We finished our pleasant road walk on FR 422. It had far reaching views (STILL of Roosevelt Lake) and no encroaching bushes.

When the Trail went onto tread we has freshly cropped bushes and new flagged trail.

The newly flagged trail was in an area with broken 4-5" sized rocks...difficult to place our feet which wanted to step on smooth flat ground. The situation deteriorated when cows joined the trail punching equal sized holes into the few flat dirt places. We had to laugh. These were not dumb cows. They followed yellow flagging, carsonite posts, cairns. I despaired of ditching them. Then...they proved that they aren't as smart as hikers. They missed a switchback and we "owned" the trail. Woo hoo!

Highway 88 has a specially built AZT underpass. We reached the underpass midpoint between Payson and Phoenix. The list of repairs and replacements is long and varied: replace my Tilly hat, replace the PocketMail Composer (screen broken in a muddy fall during the storm), replace my convertible pants (seat ripped out in another fall and Ken thinks the dental floss repair is not respectable), new Lekis to prevent falls, water bottles (one punctured by a spine and , alas, one back in the bushes inadvertently littering), more bandaids, good food (I cook for Ken every night so what is he trying to say?). Phoenix seemed like a better bet. A caver drove us to town and dropped us off at the first hotel we saw. A hotel contrasts so nicely with trail life.