Went to the creek this weekend (10-30-10) with my daughter. Got in around 10:30 at night and set camp in the dark near where the trail meets the creek. It was a cold night. Must've been in the lower 40s, burrrr!
We got up in the morning had a simple breakfast of Banana Nut Cheerio's, packed lunch and headed to the Verde around 9 am.
The trail has changed as it always does. It was still a fun, make no mistakes kind of trail.
The confluence had changed some also. More sand and dirt in different places. Definite signs of heavy rains.
After pokin' around there we headed to the air strip and took a short trail that leads to the end of the runway. I had Rachel lead the way so I could catch her if she was to loose her footing up the hill. About 40 feet or so on Rachel jumped ahead and screamed SNAKES. At that same instant I heard them rattling and with my camera started snapping pictures. I knew Rachel had passed them and I was worried we would be separated. Seeing they were only letting us know they were there and not happy about being disturbed, I was able to pass and take a few more quick pictures. I caught up to Rachel and now she was so excited and happy. "Dad that is sooo cool!" is what she tells me. I let out a sigh of relief thinking that would be the end of camping... forever. Instead it appears to have had the opposite effect. Rachel can't wait for our next trip.
The air strip looked as it always does, dangerous unless your plane has big tires. The picnic table looked a bit sunk in the dirt and more weathered. I was sad to see there was water damage to one of the sign in note books and washed away many pages of ink. The only thing I could come up with was someone inadvertently put a leaky water bottle inside. We signed in then headed back.
The ride back always seems a bit shorter for some reason. We made it back to camp around 1:30 pm. Had steak and potatoes with an ear of corn for dinner. MMMM good on a mesquite fire (even better had we brought the butter! :-).
This time prepared for the cold night we hit the sack early.
Check out our other videos from this adventure.
Squeeze to camp after exploring the Verde River Red Creek confluence.