Cave Creek

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We enjoyed our stay with Newmar friends in Quartzsite but most were heading out and we had already made plans for our next stop.  Back in the fall, we were trying to get a rough outline of where we might go after the gathering in Quartzsite. We have learned over the past few years that Arizona state and county parks fill up during the winter months. For good reason, I suppose, since all the ones we have visited have been nice. In mid-October I was poking around the reservation system for some of these parks and not having much luck at all. Maybe two nights in a row in a site but we were much too late to get a week. Then I discovered a county park north of Phoenix had some availability. Somewhere along the way, I remember hearing or reading about Cave Creek Regional Park and it sounded nice. We had wanted to get a week but could only squeeze in 6 nights.

It’s a pretty easy 160 mile drive mostly on I-10 and then one of the outer loops around the north side of Phoenix. The last stretch of the drive is along the Carefree Highway. Being born in the early 60’s, my formative years for music were in the 70’s and 80’s. As soon as I saw the sign for our exit, I found my mind automatically singing Gordon Lightfoot’s song from 1974 of the same name.
“...Carefree highway, let me slip away on you
Carefree Highway, you seen better days.
The mornin’ after blues from my head down to my shoes...”
Since the campground is right off of Carefree Highway, anytime we headed out, the song would pop back in my head. I really like the song, but after a few days of hearing myself sing it in my head, I had grown tired of it! I guess it remains to be seen if I successfully got it stuck in your head as well. We did a bit of online research to discover that Gordon Lightfoot had traveled in this area, saw the name of the highway and thought he could somehow use it in a song.

Cave Creek is a nice park with just over 40 sites. We needed to dump our holding tanks on the way in since we were coming from our 7 nights in Quartzsite. Like most campgrounds, the dump station is setup for use on the way out, but there was enough room and no traffic so it wasn’t too much trouble once the Jeep was disconnected. We were in the first loop that only has gravel sites while the other loops have paved sites. We were only expecting 30 amp electric but it actually has 50 amp. That was a nice perk after a week with only the generator. We had good weather for the drive but the next day a front came through and the rain did too.

Cloudy at Cave Creek

There are a number of hiking trails in the park and while one out of the campground connects to the other trails, it made more sense to drive to the main trailhead in order to tackle the first one we planned on doing. The nice thing about how these trails are laid out is that they are all generally loop trails that start at the trailhead but intersect again a mile or two out along the trail. This allows hikers to combine the various trails in a way that lets you customize the overall length of your hike. We pick the main trail named Go John. Not sure where the name comes from but it is the main, center loop of just under 6 miles.

Beginning of Go John Trail

The weather had cleared nicely with just some large puffy clouds and pleasant hiking temperatures. We followed the trail in a clockwise direction which seemed to allow us to do the steepest portion of the hike first. There are lots of saguaro cacti along the way and on the surrounding hills. Even with yesterday’s rain, the trail was in good shape. I suppose the dry desert soil easily soaked up the small amount of rain we got.  As we gained elevation, the distance views improved immensely. There wasn’t much in bloom this early in the season but there was still a lot to take in along the hike. A young barrel cactus growing up between some rocks and a saguaro that was just forming a bud that likely would be an arm. It was a fun but tiring hike. Maybe we have just gotten out of hiking shape? On the way back we stopped at the nice nature center to check out the displays.

Young Barrel Cactus

Bird Perched on Saguaro

New Arm Starting on Left

View Back Down Valley

The following day we decided to stay in the park and do a different trail. The trail that starts at the back of the campground is the Clay Mine Trail. Less than a quarter mile along the trail, we spot the reason the trail is so named. There is a fenced off opening into the side of the hill. We stop to check it out and it looks like a short tunnel that then opens up again after 50 feet or so. It would be neat to actually explore but apparently the powers that be don’t want us to do so.

Former Cave Entrance

Peeking Thru Fence

We hit a trail intersection at the 0.8 mile mark. We take a left on the Overton Trail which skirts along the backside of the hill we hiked past yesterday. It was another pretty hike with some great views. In about 1.5 miles we intersect with the Go John Trail again. We typically don’t like to repeat trails but we need to do a mile or so section of this to get back to the Overton Trail. At least we are heading the opposite direction on the Go John so it seems like a new trail. One of the workers is out with a pickax performing some trail maintenance. Looks like rather backbreaking work.

When we intersect the Overton Trail again, we follow that back to the Clay Mine Trail. Along the way, we com upon three riders on horseback. The guide seemed to have a mother and her young daughter out for a ride. We have seen the stables inside the park that offers rides. At one point along the Clay Mine Trail, we realize a slight climb up a berm will give us a good view overlooking the horses at the stables. It was dinner time for them and the worker was bringing in several large bales of hay with the tractor. It was fun to watch them as they jockeyed for position at the feeding stations. Some didn’t bother to wait and simply started to chow down on the hay while it was still in the bucket of the tractor. There was one horse that seems to be rather ornery and we decided that it may be a poor choice for a ride. This loop came in at 5 miles and we were able to enjoy it right from the campground.

Trail Riders

Hungry, Hungry Horses

We knew there were other things in the vicinity of Cave Creek and figured if we just did the last loop in this park, it would likely be similar to what we have done already. From the geocaching maps, we surmised there must be some sort of trail system just a bit to the south based on the number of geocaches. With a little investigation, we discovered the Apache Wash Trailhead. We were surprised to see how large and popular this place is. The parking lot looks to hold at least 100 cars and was nearly 1/3 full on a workday morning. A large number of the visitors were mountain bikers but we had come as hikers. The map showed a rather extensive trail system with about a dozen trails and maybe 25 miles of trails. After the two hikes we’ve done at Cave Creek, we were looking to keep today’s hike a bit shorter and with less climbing. We let the geocaches and our legs dictate where we headed. When we eventually got back to the parking lot, we had gotten in about 4 miles. This was definitely a nice area for hiking and many of the trails we were on would have been the proper skill level for us to mountain bike. Unfortunately we aren’t going to be in the area long enough to get a bike ride in here. Add this to the list of places to come back to in the future.

Lots of Cholla Cacti

We figured we deserved a more relaxing day so we drove into Cave Creek for a geocache at the police station and then a quick stop at the library to get some decent internet. Police station hides are usually a bit unnerving but the place seemed isolated when we were there so it wasn’t too bad. Just past Cave Creek is the town of Carefree. This looks to be a very quaint town. We stopped at a small shopping area that has a very nice park and probably the largest sundial we have ever come across. We ate our lunch at a picnic area then explored the park with well maintained gardens. We did find it odd that some of the cacti had styrofoam cups placed on each of the arms. Turns out that is done to help these Organ Pipe Cactus handle the cooler conditions of this area compared to its normal growing range. The tips of each arm are a bit susceptible to frost damage.

Huge Agave After Blooming Last Year

A Mass of Cacti

Protected Cactus Arms

Large Fountain

Larger Sundial

One last stop Chris had on her list was just a bit unusual. It’s less than a mile from downtown Carefree in a residential area. It’s a rock formation that probably doesn’t need any further description. I almost feel bad for the person that lives in the beautiful home who’s driveway exits onto the main road just 150 feet away from this oddity.

Caption Not Required

Cave Creek Regional Park was an great place to stop. We were talking with one of our neighbors at the campground. They have come to the park many times over the past few years. But it sounds like they reserve a spot as soon as the reservation window opens which is 6 months in advance. I guess we will need to plan in advance if we want to stay longer the next time.

Our next stop would be a rather short drive to Mesa AZ. We have been dealing with a couple of fogged dual pane windows on the rig. Had the problem windows been in the main “house” part of the rig, we could have dealt with them but one of the failed windows is at the driver’s seat and is what I need to look through to see the side mirror. It’s not always bad, but when it is fogged up, seeing traffic in the mirror is quite the challenge.  We know there is a very well respected window repair place in Florida near where we stayed last winter but the windows were fine then. Chris did a little research and found this place in Mesa that has reasonable reviews.

Fogged Driver's Window

We had called and booked an appointment for first thing Monday morning. They generally will go to campgrounds and do the work where the rig is but if you want to come to the shop, they will let you stay in their lot overnight so they can get to it first thing in the morning. They have a small lot shared with a couple other businesses but we managed to back in next to the building and plug into their 50 amp outlet. It’s a busy area but we slept fine and the following morning a large crew arrived. I suspect there were half a dozen trucks with two workers per truck. The morning is when they clean out the trash from the prior day’s work and restock on supplies before heading out for the day. Our assigned worker came over and made quick work of removing the large triple window frame from the driver's seat.

Windows Out

I watched him do the work and realized there wasn’t anything real specialized about the tools or supplies. Once the frame was out, he disassembled it to get the two windows that needed repair out of the frame. For each window, he cuts the seals and then uses a box cutter to remove the bulk of the seal. Then he cleans the inside of the windows very well and puts a new seal around the perimeter and sandwiches the two panes together. They don’t doe anything to try to fill the gap between the windows with some sort of inert gas. They simply rely on the dry desert air to fill the void. He did the two windows and reassembled them in the frame and had the whole thing back in the coach in about 90 minutes. It will be interesting to see how long this type of repair lasts compared to the shop in Florida that uses equipment to fill the void more like the original windows were created. But for now, I can see out the perfectly clear window!

Re-assembling Windows into Frame