I'm not lookin for a hike persay, yea I know HIKE Az, come on now
I'm looking for a lonely place with maybe a nice creek (my car won't make it to Fossil Creek anymore!) and some trees (7 Springs is nice but been there done that too many times!) that is safe for my 3 year old daughter (who can EASILY hike a mile or 2 before whining, yea she's done Vulture Peak!) and our dog (who has hiked out to Skull Cave and back with us and all over the Supes, he's hardcore)
Somewhere beautiful yet simple, with some gentle water to play in, similar to 7 Springs (love the Sears Kay Ruins btw!)maybe some ruins or other cultural or natural history to view...but different...and not more than 2 hours from Phoenix, somewhere we can get to in a passenger car and walk to relatively easily for my girl's sake and needs to be THE perfect getaway on a HOT Arizona day.
...okay, whoever comes up with the perfect getaway for my little family gets to come along!!
Thanks Joe, kayaking is always a plus! I'll have to look into that later this summer before the water cool down.
Verde River Greenway was a let down by the way!! The photos I saw online were NOT accurate to where we were told to go. but oh well, my daughter swam in the Verde River, we hiked some under used equestrian trails and had a lovely day up in Cottonwood!
Still looking for more places like this to visit. let's change it to 3 hours out of the Arrowhead mall area of Peoria.
@joe bartels
Joe,
You don't know me but I saw your post about Gisela. I used to go to the water hole all the time through the now restricted access. There is a group of us that want to go Sunday and try to find the other way. Is it doable for a bunch of mildly experienced hikers? Could you help me with directions?
Thanks,
Carroll
If you have a GPS with this route loaded it shouldn't be too difficult. Otherwise it is doable with a screen print of the map if you have good map skills. Without a GPS the difficulty will be convincing yourself to make the final descent which is ridiculously steep. I made it to the starting point without four wheel drive. However most will definitely need it to negotiate one huge sand ledge.
Joe,
Thanks for your quick reply. I think it's past my skill level at this point. Let me know if you are ever going again if you wouldn't mind some people tagging along.
Carroll
It's not necessarily lonely, but it has a great creek/swimming hole that is perfect for dogs and kids--Buddha Beach at Red Rock Crossing in Sedona. It's one of the farthest swimming holes from the parking lot, so it has far less people than the other spots in the park...
You can access it via a relatively short hike from the parking lot or from longer trails around Cathedral Rock.
It was one of our favorite places to hang out and take our dogs swimming.
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