Arizona - July 2023

My cousin invited me to join him for a trip to visit some of our family out in central Arizona. It had been awhile since I'd been out there and cuz was willing to do the driving, so I was in. We packed up his truck and hit the road. We drove out the 10 freeway into Arizona to the junction with the 60 just passed Quartzite, took the 60 to the junction with the 71 just passed Aguila, took the 71 to the junction with the 89 in Congress, and then took the 89 into Prescott where our family lives. First we stopped off at my dads house and spent some time with him and my step mom before heading over to my brothers house where we planned on staying for the trip.

Map of the drive

On our first day out there my brother took my cousin and I out for a hike in the Upper Verde River Wilderness. He drove us to the trailhead which was up on a plateau above the canyon. The trail dropped quite steeply down into the canyon, but it wasn't long before we got down to the bottom of the canyon. In the bottom the trail was totally overgrown making it hard to follow, but luckily my brother had been there a few times before so he knew which way to go. First he took us to an area where there are a bunch of cool petroglyphs carved into the rocks. After that we hiked down along the river until we found a nice swimming hole to enjoy. We blew up our inflatable tubes and then spent the afternoon floating on the river. After awhile we had to go and made the hike back up river and back up the steep trail to the trailhead on the plateau. My brother took us back to his house. Unfortunately he had to get ready to go to work for the evening, but his friend invited my cousin and I to join her for the evening down on "Whiskey Row". The annual Prescott rodeo was going on and it draws lots of people from all over so all the bars were packed, but we had a bunch of fun drinking, listening to live country music, and talking with all the cowboys and cowgirls. For two southern Californians it was quite a fun cultural experience.

Hiking down into the upper Verde river canyon

My brother leading us through the overgrowth in the bottom of the canyon

A wild mulberry tree where we stopped and snacked on a few ripe berries

Petroglyphs

Checking out more petroglyphs
My brother said this one looked like a deer with a beak, my cousin said it was a cow with broken legs and it's tongue sticking out

Hiking down along the Verde river

The pool where we hung out and floated

Having fun in 'Matt's Saloon' on Whiskey row

The next day we woke up late. Not a surprise given the partying we did the night before. My brother, my cousin, and I headed over to my dads house and my dad took us up to Goldwater lake which is a really beautiful lake that's not far from his house. We found a nice spot along the shoreline and spent some time trying to fish, but with no luck. My dad usually does really good fishing Goldwater, but with the big rodeo and the 4th of July holiday there were lots of people out and the lake was just packed with kayakers and fishermen, and picnicking families etc... and I think the fish were too scared to bite with all the commotion. After that we headed back to my dads house and spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out with him in his garage. After that we headed over to my moms house to have dinner with her and my step dad. My mom made some delicious fish tacos and afterward we spent the rest of the evening playing a really fun card game called Skyjo.

Fishing at Goldwater lake

The next day my cousin, my brother, my mom, and I all headed out for another hike to the Verde river. This was a different location farther downstream, but the trail was similar. It started up high on a plateau above the canyon and dropped really steep down to the river. In this location there was a lot more water flow though which allowed us to have a nice ride down the river on our inflatable tubes. It was really beautiful floating down river with big deep pools and areas thick with cattails which made it like floating through a maze. It was a really hot day, but with the cool water and the shade from the big cottonwood trees it was absolutely perfect. After we had floated quite a long ways we decided we better start back so we got out of the river and hiked back up the river to where we started. We relaxed there for awhile and had some lunch and then made the steep hike back up and out of the canyon. Then we headed back to my brothers house for the final night of the trip.

Hiking down to the Verde river

Hiking along the bottom of the canyon

The Verde river

Getting our inflatable tubes ready

The Verde river, you can see how it got it's name

The Verde river

Hiking out of the canyon

Map of the upper Verde River Wilderness Area

The next day my cousin and I had to head back home to SoCal. It's a long drive, and honestly I don't really like driving long distances, but my cousin doesn't seem to mind it at all and so hopefully we'll be able to head back and do it all again sometime soon!

all photos by @derekrichardson

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[//]:# (!pinmapple 34.86732 lat -112.40239 long Verde River d3scr)
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