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| Hiking | 1.50 Miles |
500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.50 Miles | | | |
| 500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Spent the day with Trekkin Gecko in one of my favorite areas today - Payson! We visited a couple of attractions that together make a nice fun day.
Started by arriving at Tonto Natural Bridge State Park just a few minutes after they opened at 8:00. First thing we did was take a lap around the parking lot to look for the resident javelinas that congregate there in the morning, and they did not let us down. We found a group of seven or eight at the end of the lot by the bridge. They were pretty casual about being approached and photographed ... very intent on their grazing.
This park is small, and the trails short, so we made the most of it by hitting every single trail and viewpoint in the place. We first went down and back up the Waterfall Trail - love the dripping spring/hanging garden there ... lots of berries starting to form, too - worth coming back to sample those later in the summer.
Next we went down the Pine Creek Trail to the bridge, did the always adventerous descent through the tunnel, got "rained" on quite a bit under the bridge, and made our way out the other end to the creek-level viewing platform.
Next we headed up the Gowan Trail, then around and back down the Anna Mae - both short and sweet. Finally we headed back up the Pine trail, then walked along the parking lot path to the only viewpoint we had yet to visit.
Besides the javelinas, we saw a western scrub jay, cardinal, tanagers, possible oriole, black phoebe, and rock squirrels. And not too many people at all, except for one group of kids on a camp outing or something.
This is one of my happy places in the world, and I am never sorry that I made yet another visit here ... I always leave feeling good.
After that, we were on to Water Wheel and Ellison Creek - but I think I will wait to post that ... getting sleepy. |
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