az adventure: washington park
And into the woods I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. - John Muir
Washington Park is the beautiful forested headwaters of the East Verde River, located just beneath the Mogollon Rim (approximately 17 miles outside of Payson). This weekend, my brother and I took my nephews on an overnight camping trip in the area.
We selected our dispersed campsite using Google Earth. Options abound, with numerous small service roads that provide access to the forest and privacy. We chose a spot on a small knoll, near a large alligator juniper, that afforded views of the Mogollon Rim. It was a beautiful site, and the weather was almost perfect -- moderate temperatures, clear skies, and almost no wind.
We arrived in the late afternoon. If you camp with young kids, you know that the campfire is a significant point of focus. While setting up camp, we busied my nephews with gathering sticks for the fire (we also brought our own firewood, but there was a lot of deadwood available in the area). Once we had the tent up, we did a short reconnaissance hike of the area, exploring the surrounding forest and a dry stream bed.
Our evening consisted of staying warm around the fire, roasting hot dogs, making s'mores and eating baked cinnamon apples. The boys were eager to "feed" the fire at every opportunity, tossing in the small sticks they had gathered. The absence of light pollution and the moon gave us a spectacular view of the night sky -- including a few shooting stars.
The next morning, we stoked up the fire again, and stayed warm as the sun rose. Eggs, bacon, and more cinnamon apples were on the menu. We broke down camp in time to do some exploring. The boys enjoyed helping to extinguish the fire -- pretending the steam was smoke from a volcano. When camping in Arizona, it is important to take plenty of water to drown your campfire -- you can't depend on water access near your campsite.
To round out our adventure, we drove to the trail head at Washington Park -- an absolutely gorgeous area -- and stopped in one of several pull-outs to check out the East Verde River, and soak our feet in the ice cold water. It was definitely worth the relatively short drive.
My thoughts on this particular trip:
Just being in the forest is rejuvenating. In this instance, we did not have a specific destination -- trees and solitude were the only requirements.
Kids remind you to be amazed by the little things in the world. Tiny flowers. Unique rocks. Puff balls, (probably not the scientific name) small round organisms filled with spores that shoot out like smoke when stepped on. Animal scat -- deer, elk, and unknown. A campfire. A small tarantula (this little guy ended up being a highlight of the trip).
- Arizona has an amazing degree of natural diversity and beauty. In just over two hours we went from the Sonoran Desert to a pine and spruce forest with a running stream. Amazing. The Washington Park area will definitely be on my list of places to revisit!