Central AZ, 11/27/2009

datrupr

Expedition Leader
Black Friday. A day that comes around every year that seems to put normal everyday people into a frenzy. Like sharks going crazy on a school of fish. I have made it a tradition every year to make sure I avoid anything resembling a shopping center. So, early Friday morning, Jacki, Ellesha and I went to see a movie. After the movie we stopped at Costco (I know, big mistake) to gas up the Monty. While I was filling the truck up and watching the chaos at Costco I had an epiphany. "Why don't we get out of town for the day?" I went over to Jacki's open window and stuck my head in and proclaimed, "Lets go on an adventure!". That was met with warm reviews as it was a beautiful day and we had nothing else going on. After I got gas and fought my way out of the Costco parking lot we were on our way north. I had a destination in mind, but wanted to take a route that I had never been on before. Traffic on the 17 was horrible this Friday afternoon, my guess is everyone trying to make their way to the outlet mall at Anthem. I ducked off the 17 and took the back roads into New River, and then jumped back on for the short distance to the Table Mesa exit. Not knowing where I was going, and I didn't have my GPS with me I got lost once, and confused at a gate. Anyone ever get confused by a gate? Anyway, according to my trusty old map, I went through the gate and continued down the trail that I hoped was the right one. It started off pretty tame, but it did provide some minor challenges as we progressed further. It was evident that this is not a maintained trail. I was having fun. Sadly, we never reached our intended destination as the sun was going down and we had been on the trail for about 4 hours. We still needed to have dinner and I had a 6 year old that was getting tired and cranky. However, I am going to do this run with a group next month for a nice day trip. Anyway, on to the pictures.

The scenery was beautiful, and the sun was cooperating nicely:

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It seemed like the moon was guiding us the entire way:

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There were just amazing rock formations, almost like they were stacked there by someone. This one looks like a sitting bulldog:

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And again, the scenery was amazing:

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The cottonwoods were very pretty as they were changing colors:

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More scenery:

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datrupr

Expedition Leader
It was a great day and we really liked the trail and the views. It was longer than we had anticipated, but still a lot of fun. I also had to get a quick dust art shot in and as always, a plug for Wil and Wen:

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