Twice we had heard that the little campsite we used wasn't great. True, it was right on the road and small but it had wonderful views, an outhouse, a garbage can, Water from the ranger station, and a flat smooth tent site. We thought it was A-1 from the time we got there after dark to just before sunrise when we started down the road to Aravaipa Canyon.

The canyon was an entirely different geological and ecologic zone. In no time at all we saw a vermilion flycatcher, a black hawk, and a javalina herd rooting and digging near the creek. Later we spotted big horn sheep above us on the canyon walls

The first 2 miles of the canyon were nearly always wall-to-wall water with the red rock walls rising vertically to a bright blue sky.

In the water were fish of every size and small tan frogs. Tadpoles and tiny black somethings swarmed in shallow water.

All of this was present as we made our way slowly upstream. We saw other people but everyone was busy wading and viewing.

Temperatures were perfect all day. As we made our way out of the canyon we were again walking on Aravaipa Road. We made a quick camp (outside the restricted zone) after dark off the side of the road.

What an interesting day as a contrast to desert hiking!

After our third day on Aravaipa Creek or Road we started to climb into the Santa Teresa Mountains, leaving both the road and creek behind we entered wilderness area. We had been watching the very rough and dramatic mountains from below, wondering how we would hike them. It turns out that it was as difficult as it looked...Trail disappears or becomes an undefined walk in a wash or is overgrown. Luckily, Blisterfree has flagged the way with orange tape. The hiking is still slow and demanding

We saw bear tracks that walked up the drainage late in the afternoon until we camped.

No bear visited our tidy campsite last night.

We started where we left off yesterday...walking down Black Canyon Creek while eating our PopTarts. I think our speed was about 1.5 mph as we hopped rocks on either side of the creek or in it.

A sketchy trail led us up a couple thousand feet. Those were hard slow miles, too. In some places we were climbing more than 100' in a tenth of a mile. Since we were so high we got some good views.

The weather seems to be deteriorating with a cold wind blowing clouds in. The white dome atop Mt Graham shines amid the gray clouds. Maybe the storm that the ranger mentioned is arriving.

I saw a squirrel that I thought might be the protected Red Squirrel. We also saw two deer with long white tails.

When we finally got out of Santa Teresa Wilderness we found a 4-WD road. It soon turned onto an ATV road, the best trail we've had for a couple of days. We took full advantage of it and raced along until dusk. Our campsite was raised above the bottom of the wash ...just in case of rain tonight.

Several things contributed to making a decision we really didn't want to make. The weather has definitely deteriorated. Mt Graham is covered with snow well down the mountain. Today's hike includes a cross country section followed by a climb into that snow. We are a little behind our schedule and therefore might run out of food if we continued. We decided we would hike toward/into Thatcher by road instead of continuing to follow the GET up and over Mt Graham. 

As we hiked we watched rain storms move across the valley in front of us. Several cars stopped to ask if we needed help. When one pickup stopped the second time, we decided to take the driver up on his offer to take us into town.