The view across Saguaro National Park East, with Mt. Lemon in the distance.
We’ve enjoyed a week-long visit with friends Chris and Judy. Before they hitched up their trailer for the drive home, we had one last adventure in Saguaro National Park East. There’s a beautiful loop drive through the park with ample pull-outs for an up-close look at the desert vegetation. Our first stop allowed Chris, who in his younger days spent seven years in Tucson, to point out some local landmarks.
Quite a few hiking trails cross-cross the park. For us, a short hike along the Mica View Trail got us out of the car, stretching our legs and working up an appetite for a picnic lunch.
The sun put on another spectacular show, signaling our last evening with Chris and Judy.
We bumped into a couple from Montana the other day while hiking an off-the-beaten-path trail outside of Camp Verde, Arizona. Both raved about the nearby Bell Trail, claiming the hike was beautiful and led to an intriguing feature not to be missed. “Be sure to go to the end of the trail to see The Crack,” they advised.
The view from the parking lot of the Bell Trail didn’t appear to promise spectacular scenery.
The trail followed a gradual incline through the dry desert landscape, paralleling Wet Beaver Creek.
The trail became rougher and rocky as it climbed higher. Soon we found ourselves among towering red rock cliffs, with the creek far below us. As we came around the last bend there it was. We saw several groups of people gathered above it…The Crack. Reg found a perfect lunch spot and we settled in to watch who might be brave enough to take it on.
We enjoyed our picnic lunch safely, high above The Crack.
From our perch we could see the deep channel the creek cut between the rocky cliffs. What appeared to be a deep pool of water flowed between rapids both upstream and downstream, creating a tempting swimming hole after a long hot hike. We had heard that only the bravest jumped from the cliff, a plunge of about 20 feet.
These two young men seemed to contemplate a jump. We were happy they seemed to decide against it.
We heard whoops and screams as a few hardy folks made their way to the water’s edge and took a dip. Cold was the consensus of the courageous few.
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