Saturday we stopped by Best Buy to pick up a smaller case for DaNece's Olympus camera, and ran into Rich. He mentioned that him and Sadira would be heading up to Sycamore Canyon and invited us to go with.
Unfortunately Rich was too tired to come out and play, so me and DaNece decided to go out regardless, although via a different route. Rich's plan had been to head out Perkinsville Rd and end up on the west side of the canyon. Since I had just driven Perkinsville loop the week before we opted to go through Jerome and Clarkdale and hit the South end of the park.
This afforded us the luxury of stopping for breakfast at the Red Rooster Cafe. Not only was the food good, but a large late comes in a soup-bowl with a handle! So I definitely got my coffee fix for the day. :)
From there we proceeded down to Clarkdale, and up Sycamore Canyon Rd. After about 25 minutes on the dirt you get to the trail-head with a look north into the canyon:
The first few hundred feet of the trail are the hardest. They drop you from the plateau straight down to the canyon floor. The canyon walls rise up around you:
Then; a fork in the trail. If you go left (and cross the creek) you will go to Packard trail, which I believe weaves downstream. Sycamore creek was running high and fast, so we opted to avoid crossing the stream and went straight (Parson's Trail). This is a beautiful trail that parallels the creek, and is shady most of the way through. At one point you can see a spring literally bubbling out of the ground. Very cool!
From there the trail follows the canyon back to a point where you HAVE to cross the creek to continue. Unfortunately the water levels did not easily allow this:
We scrambled around for a while trying to find a way to keep hiking along the creek, but that wasn't going to happen, so we turned around and headed back to the truck.
From there we headed to Cottonwood and decided to eat at Murphy's Grill. Man talk about a mistake! There was no hostess at the front (she was busy folding napkins apparently). Eventually the bartender came over and seated us, and got us some water. The girl who was supposed to be our waitress never made it to our table to help us. She looked at us a few times, and just walked by. After 10 minutes of waiting to place our order we walked out. The worst part? There were only 3 tables occupied, so it wasn't like she was too busy.
After this disappointment we drove around cottonwood, but didn't find anything that piqued our interest. So we headed back up the hill, and ate at the Mile High Grill. WOW! This is the second time we have eaten there, and it is awesome! Great burgers, awesome service, and we got a window seat so we even got a nice view!
One peculiar thing that caught my eye was this painting of Whiskey Row in Prescott.... in Jerome.... am I the only one that thinks that is weird?
The drive home afforded a nice view of the San Francisco peaks:
What a great Sunday!
PHOTOSET from the day
EDIT: DaNece has also posted her pics from the trip
*NOTE*: you will have to forgive me, I am on a bit of a BW photo kick. I totally blame this site, which is making me love the black and white goodness. Bear with me.
6 comments:
Tombo, nice post, good pictures.
Next time you're in Cottonwood looking for a place to eat, try Old Cottonwood. There are several good restaurants there now. SWMBO ate at one that occupies the building that used to house the movie theatre. Very modern and excellent.
Good to know catalyst. I will have to keep my eyes peeled next time we go through there. :)
Great photos Tombo.
I don't know why, but I have always been drawn to black and white photos. There's just something about all that light and shadow that I can't resist.
Thanks Mike! They've always caught my attention as well. Somehow it seems more real than color sometimes.
Jealous Jealous...Next time I'm tagging along (without Rich if need be!! Besides, all the food sounded wonderful...) And, I've never been down in the speak easy either, I could contact my landlord and see if it's possible...hmmmm
Chickenbells - Yep, give one of us a call next time you want to come with. DaNece is in charge of phone numbers, as I rarely remember or save them.
You ought to talk to your landlord about checking out the speak-easy. They will probably say no, but it would be an awesome picture-taking opportunity if they say yes! :)
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