The Grand Enchantment Trail ~ Part 4
Waking up to sunrise at Picketpost Mountain was just as spectacular as its sunset. It's as if the topography were designed to highlight only the mountain and nothing else. This monument to nature was simply and purely glowing.
A cottontail rabbit immediately burst out in front of us showing us how to spring into action so early in the morning.
This very morning we wished we could see a Gila Monster, and within several hours we actually witnessed two walking with us on the trail.
As we hiked deeper into the canyons, our next thoughts turned to collecting water from a stagnant pool.
Surprisingly, I found out where last nights mosquitoes were coming from. Mosquito larvae were busy swimming everywhere. Irregardless, we tanked up with our maximum load of four liters each.
Detouring away from the Arizona Trail we headed into the White Mountain Wilderness on a primitive trail moving towards Battle Axe Butte.
The grandeur of these Saguaro filled canyons excited the thorns out of our skin from the bushes that had been scratching our legs.
Bird Nests had open houses but insisted that Nature was not for sale.
Free-birds softened a truly rugged terrain.
Stacey saw the essence of the rock kingdom and made geological time blush.
Traveling cross country through the wash of Walnut Canyon on our way to the Gila River was gorgeous.
Water appeared and then disappeared in the narrow slot canyon where we tanked up on water for the last time until we would reach the hamlet of Kelvin the next day.
While we stopped for a meal, a male hummingbird chased a female by literally darting through my open two legs. How amazing is that.
