Out of Tranquility

We are back and we are safe. No running to report, not even running from bears (thank goodness). This is a long blog of our vacation so read on at your own risk.

Trading in running for backpacking, fly fishing, hiking game trails, swimming in freezing cold mountain rivers, and eating very lite was really great. Being away from everyone, not seeing any other person other than our party for 4 days was incredible. Not knowing if we were in WWIII or if Utopia had come was refreshing. I could do without the news on an ongoing basis :)

Let me start the story here. We left Sunday morning early. Our friends met us at our house and so we had two vehicles. Our XTerra and their double cab truck. We were on our way to Safford AZ to spend the night, a 13 hour drive. We get to Van Horn, stop to get gas and smell antifreeze. Not good. Open the hood and steam comes pouring out. We had the belts and hoses checked and changed before we left, it appeared that the belt had come loose from the radiator so we put it back on and tightened it up.

We make it to Safford sleep in a cheezy motel then get up Monday morning and make our way to the San Carlos Indian Reservation. Terry's first comment was "wow, no wind"! It is about 100 miles to the point we will begin our decent to the river by backpack. We must first drive on dirt, rock, rutted, TERRIBLE logging roads that are not marked. A friend has given us the GPS coordinates (123 of them). We programmed them into a handheld GPS unit, this is how we find our way. There are logging roads one after another and it is easy to get lost without the coordinates. Needless to say there are no people here, only us.

We start off on the first dirt road, it is very bumpy and it isn't long before steam is pouring out from under our hood. The hose has come off again. After it cools we discover that the little lip on the radiator where the hose comes in has broken off. Therefore the hose will not stay on no matter how tightly it is clamped. The guys use duck tape to try to hold it together...this works for a short time but is just not good enough for the bumpy roads.

The decision is made to leave the car in the middle of the field right off of the main logging road. We pack everything we will need for the next 4 days into our friends double cab truck and climb in. Now there are 6 of us in the truck with all of our gear in the back.

The bumping is incredible and annyoing, but part of the experience. We find the roads using the GPS pretty easily and then we hit a VERY rocky stretch and we here...pop....hisssssss.....a rock has punctured a tire. Bill puts on the gas to get us to the top and to a flat place in order to change the tire. In going to get the spare from under the truck he can't find the key for the padlock that holds the cable around the tire to keep it from getting stolen. Luckily he has a hacksaw and the guys work for about 20 minutes to saw through the cable so that we can get the spare tire. The tire is changed easily but this leaves us with no spare.

We continue on and we find the end of the road which is on the top or a huge cliff. We look over and we can see the river below, it is a breathtaking view. Those we know who have done this before tell us the game trail begins where it has been marked with a yellow tape ribbon so we don our backpacks and follow the ribbon.

Wow, can it really be this steep? We were all wondering what the hell we had gotten ourselves into, this was more than steep, this was a cliff and without repelling equipment we would not make it the mile down to the river. So we go back up (a tough feat). We begin to look around and find that there are three yellow ribbons leading down a different game trail that while very hard and steep was NOTHING like the cliff we had just attempted. So down we hike.

At the bottom it opens into a large open area with huge pines right beside some small falls in the river. It is absolutely an amazing sight. This is where we camp. We set up our tents, get out the food, hang it from bears, do all of the "camping" stuff we need to do then it's off to explore. Hiking close by up and down the river and doing some fishing.

The sun begins to rise at about 4:45 am so we are up pretty early every morning, it is cold at night (40 degrees) so we build a big fire at night and in the morning. Tuesday morning we get up, eat oatmeal and hike 3 miles upriver on a game trail where we see signs of deer, elk, bear. We see a bald eagle, a Tom Turkey, and an old Meth Shack. If you are not aware, the Indians in the San Carlos reservation are well known for their meth habits, unfortunately it is a bad situation. We were on a game trail to find another river that runs into The Black when we came across the shack. It was obvious by the trash left behind it was an old Meth Lab. Literally in the middle of this gorgeous country.

In any case the hike was tough, crossed the river many times and the river is full of lots of rocks an swift water. Game trails or for game...not for humans! But they work. When stopping for lunch (trail mix) we were able to see a Raven feed her 4 babies in a nest on a cliff. Those babies were HUGE and loud. On the way back we fished every hole we could get to and didn't catch many, but just being out there was worth it, the water is really amazing.

We cooked and ate 100 yards from camp, don't want to tempt the bears. After eating it's back to camp for a big camp fire. Then off to bed.

Wednesday we hiked downstream for about 2.5 miles fishing as we went. Again the terrain is very rough but not as bad as upstream. We see a rattler under a log we crossed.

After awhile of not catching fish Taryn, Ashton, and I decide to go back to one of the big pools we found and lay out and swim. We were smart enough to wear our bathing suites under our clothes. This pool was at least 12 feet deep and looked so inviting in the 78 to 80 degree heat. Getting in though is another story, the water is freezing! The girls were much braver than I and stayed in a little longer, I just jumped in and got right out, I could not breathe!

Laying on the rocks by the pool was nice, just sleeping and talking girl talk. Then on to camp where we all took naps and began dinner for the guys.

More fishing and then it was time to get up and head out. We got up about 6 and broke camp, put on our packs and started our ascent out of the valley. The ascent was much more difficult than the descent. My calves were cramping my lungs were burning but slowly we made it out and the truck was in good condition, nice to see.

Going out we prayed the entire way that we would not get another flat as we had no additional spare. Sure enough we made it back to the XTerra which was still there and had not been touched. However it cannot be driven of course and we have no cell service. So we look around and find a "ranger" station, it looks abandonded. We find some shacks that look like they are out of deliverance and we see someone go in real fast and shut the door, we decide that after knowing about the meth problem we will not ask for help.

So we drive until we get service which is in Globe, AZ. Who needs service now we are already in town! Luckily we find a radiator shop (keep in mind this is after a 100 mile drive in rough road in a double cab truck and we have not showered in 4 days). The owner is very nice and says he will try to get us a radiator from Pheonix but it will be Saturday and his family has father's day plans so he may not get to it until Monday. Our plan was to come home on Saturday :( we take what we can get.

Terry has to get the car towed so he calls a towing service and rides out with the tow truck (80 miles) to get the car. About half way back the tow truck radiator overheats. They have to wait 45 minutes for another tow truck to come and get them. It is, after all, now Friday the 13th.

Finally after leaving the valley at 7:30 am Terry gets to the hotel in Globe at 10:30 pm. We had stayed with our friend, gotten a room, showered, eaten. He had a beer and pizza! Luck was on our side though when the owner of the radiator showed up at the shop while they were dropping off the car and told Terry that he had a friend pick up the radiator so it was there and that he would try (although not promise) to come in late that night and fix the car.

We didn't hear from him the rest of the night and so we had no idea what the deal was so the next morning at 6 the kids left with our friend to go home. Terry and I were prepared to stay with no car and no clean clothes until Monday if needed. As we were eating breakfast at a local place by the hotel we get a call...he had stayed until midnight to fix our car and it was ready. He came and picked us up at the cafe and we were ready to roll.

13 hours later we are home. It was a great vacation and all the mishaps made it even better.