Day 7

It was chilly when I woke up this morning - just perfect for a long sleeve t-shirt. I woke up at 5am again and noticed on the campground rules that quiet hours were from 8am-8pm. What was I going to do for 3 hours?? The entire campground was asleep so I decided to hike down the nature trail.

This trail went down to the visitors center or the long split went down to the entrance of the park - probably about 3 miles. I didn't think everyone would be asleep quite that long so I just decided to hike for about an hour.

The first spot I came to was the old foundation of the CCC quarters inn the park. We've run into CCC works all over the country and the things they accomplished at this park were no different. Young men needing jobs who worked hard creating trails, buildings, and roads that we use today while they received $25 per month with $20 required to go home to their families. They also received an education - many learned to read or learned a trade. Brayden and I love learning about this program.

As I passed through the meadow jackrabbits were darting into and out of the grass. This meadow was natural and high so there was probably much more wildlife hiding in there! Up ahead I saw a blur on the trail and once I realized what it was and pulled my camera up, it darted across the boulders into his little home. I guess this wasn't the ringtail I was going to get for my birthday. Of course my camera was still in landscape mode so he's just a blur in my picture. See him kinda?

The trail weaved around a dry river for quite a while until I reached the homestead where I'd decided to turn around. This homestead was built by a husband and wife and was expanded over the years to accommodate their growing family. It survived an earthquake and many harsh winters.

I can't imagine waking up to this view every morning!














While I was hiking I was trying to figure out the time difference. It was 5am when I woke up and very bright. I know I hadn't seen a Pacific Time Zone sign but the time here was definitely an hour earlier. It finally hit me that Arizona doesn't participate in Daylight Savings Time! I'm so used to falling back and springing forward I'd forgotten there were some states that don't! So once we get into California I may still wake up at 5am but maybe the sun will be just rising?



By the time I got back to our site there were several families around us awake so I thought it was safe to start making breakfast. Since it was so cool we'd decided on me cooking pancakes on my stove instead of Grammie running her generator to cook. The girls slowly got up and made their way to folding their laundry and helping cook breakfast. Our trips aren't all fun and games!






After we cleaned up and packed up we got on the road toward our next spot. Today would be another 6 hour drive but we would be making our first Trader Joe's stop. The girls were excited to grab a Redbox movie and be in charge of shopping. We ended up with lots of snacks and lots of fruit - typical for them! On our way out of Tucson we drove by a massive Amazon building that had about 75-100 planes parked next door. I'm assuming it is a distribution center? The girls wanted to go in and shop!

The scenery was the same the whole way with distant mountains and dry desert. Phoenix was a stressful city to drive through - I didn't realize it was quite so big! The traffic was a monster on this weekend day. I can't imagine if we'd driven through on a weekday!

Once we made it off the interstate we had about another hour to drive. The temperature was 112 and seemed to be rising. Our next stop was Buckskin Mountain so I was hopeful we would be driving up into a nearby mountain for some relief. I realized we would be able to swim in the Colorado River so I'm guessing we wouldn't be.

When we reached the entrance to the park it was 116. It was a flat park right on the river and our spots were the only ones with trees. Not that they helped at all! The girls and I made the executive decision to forgo setting up the tent and head straight to the water. It was perfectly chilly and provided so much relief! If I'd had a raft I would have tied it to a tree and floated there all day!

We took in the view and watched the skiers go back and forth along the river while the kids played all kinds of games in the water. We were just happy to be cool!

I dragged the kids out of the water to eat dinner and after about a 20 minute settling of food we went right back to the water.  There were a bunch tiny bats flying all around us eating bugs and skimming the water to drink.  They even buzzed our heads a few times!

I'd checked the weather after dinner and it was supposed to cool down over night to 95. Definitely not something I was interested in being in a tent for! There was a breeze but it was so hot it felt like it was coming from inside an oven. We walked up to the campsite once it was dark and I declared it impossible to sleep so we grabbed pillows and headed to Grammie's RV. We were SO very thankful to have that option!

The air conditioner had been running since we'd gotten there and it was still warm, but so much cooler than outside. We didn't expect to be sleeping on beds this early in our trip! I tried to read but only ended up finding the spot I'd left off last time before I gave up and went to sleep.