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| no partners | | An Epic Day in the Sierra Ancha
I have been thinking of posting this for quite some time, but figured the 20th anniversary of this adventure would be perfect. 
I have enjoyed many trips up in those mountains over the years, and this was one of them. The week prior, Renee and I hiked up to the cliff dwelling at Devils Chasm, so this time I wanted to show her another of my favorite spots nearby. We met at Florence Junction, then headed up to our destination in my vehicle. There had been some recent storm activity, but we seemed to be catching a break in the weather for this trip, at least in the beginning. The drive up FR487 was no problem and we parked at Falls Campground, since the the gate was locked on the road for the seasonal closure. With all the water we had seen already on the drive up, I knew things would be messy further up, which they were. We explored around the waterfall for awhile, then headed up the road to hike the trail up to Peterson Meadow, where we had a lunch break. Of course, the weather closed in as we were doing this (nothing very intense fortunately, just some thunder and mixed precipitation to add a little drama  ). We still managed to enjoy our crackers, cheese, and wine, before heading back down the road to the vehicle. 
So far this had been a pretty fun day, but that changed when I made the decision to extend the adventure by driving back on A-Cross Road to AZ188, then back to Florence Junction by way of the Apache Trail.  I didn't realize what I was getting myself into.  I had never been on A-Cross Road before, so wanted to check it out, plus the lake and Apache Trail is always fun and dramatic.  It started out well on A-Cross, but didn't take me long to find out what a nightmare that road can be when it is wet and raining.  It was slow going and we were picking up lots of mud and clay, as we encountered more showers along the way. There were places where I didn't have much vehicle control in the slick conditions, and felt like I might slide off the road.  It sure would have been easier just to have headed back the way we drove up via Miami, but no, I had had to make a grandiose loop.
We still had to get across Tonto Creek near Punkin Center, a sometimes dangerous proposition. We stopped before crossing and looked it over, then saw how much mud and clay I had accumulated, and decided to gun it across that sucker in hopes of washing some of it off. Well, we made it across, but not much mud was removed. As soon as we hit pavement on SR188, I found out how out of balance the wheels had become with the mud/clay. At 25 mph the RAV was shaking too much, so we crawled along until we found a place to pull off, and spent a lot of time getting as much of the crud off the wheels, etc. as we could. By now it was getting pretty late in the day, but at least we had a smooth ride again. It got dark not too far into the drive on the Apache Trail, so that added to the fun the rest of the way.
Renee was asleep after all this and as I navigated some of the sharp curves, I noticed the smell of burning rubber. I knew what that meant! There was still lots of mud caked in the wheel wells, so I knew at least one of my tires was getting some damage. Luckily, I didn't have a tire failure, and I got Renee back to her car late in the evening, and we headed our separate ways. I think I got home after midnight. I assessed my tires the next morning in daylight, and decided I had to go to Discount Tire for one replacement. Yes, that turned out to be quite an adventure for sure! |
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