Saturday Afternoon Travels
ninjababe and I actually left the house yesterday, and headed over to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area. It's only a few minutes from the house, and I was told about it by a coworker last summer. It's a very popular local swimming hole in the summer. You can jump from the rocks into the pools below as well. Considering how hot our summers are, you can see why it would be popular! It was in the high 40s yesterday, but the canyon felt warmer as it's protected from the wind. After walking a while, I took off my sweatshirt, and was just wearing my shirt.
This is the view from the top, up by the Anasazi ruins. It's a half mile from the campground, most of it up hill.
After our hike, we decided to go look for the swimming hole, and started to walk into the canyon. Not a place you want to be during summer monsoon rains!
At this point, it was past 4:30pm, so we didn't have a lot of daylight left, so we decided to go as far as we could, leaving enough time for daylight on the walk back. I love the reflection of the cliffs in Quail Creek here.
We turned a corner, and found a waterfall.
We kept on, and came up against a rock pile that required a little rock climbing, which Nin wasn't feeling up to attempting, so I went on by myself for a bit. This is where I stopped. There were stepping stones to cross, but it was late, and Nin was by herself, so I turned back. There had been a group of about 15 teenagers ahead of us, and they'd disappeared across the creek at this point.I think that's where the tiered swimming holes are. Though I doubt they were swimming yesterday!
On the walk back, from above, I could see there was an alternate way up, that didn't include rock climbing, so Nin can go the whole way, and we can cross the stream to see what's on the other side. Glad I turned back when I did, because it was starting to get pretty chilly.
Definitely going to visit in the summer, so water shoes are now on my list of things to get.
Steph, I think you and the girls would love it! Maybe when everyone is healthy again - there's even dinosaur tracks!
This is the view from the top, up by the Anasazi ruins. It's a half mile from the campground, most of it up hill.
After our hike, we decided to go look for the swimming hole, and started to walk into the canyon. Not a place you want to be during summer monsoon rains!
At this point, it was past 4:30pm, so we didn't have a lot of daylight left, so we decided to go as far as we could, leaving enough time for daylight on the walk back. I love the reflection of the cliffs in Quail Creek here.
We turned a corner, and found a waterfall.
We kept on, and came up against a rock pile that required a little rock climbing, which Nin wasn't feeling up to attempting, so I went on by myself for a bit. This is where I stopped. There were stepping stones to cross, but it was late, and Nin was by herself, so I turned back. There had been a group of about 15 teenagers ahead of us, and they'd disappeared across the creek at this point.I think that's where the tiered swimming holes are. Though I doubt they were swimming yesterday!
On the walk back, from above, I could see there was an alternate way up, that didn't include rock climbing, so Nin can go the whole way, and we can cross the stream to see what's on the other side. Glad I turned back when I did, because it was starting to get pretty chilly.
Definitely going to visit in the summer, so water shoes are now on my list of things to get.
Steph, I think you and the girls would love it! Maybe when everyone is healthy again - there's even dinosaur tracks!