Wet Beaver Creek
July 16, 2005
In a few days, Kathy is moving back to Seattle. For her last hike as an Arizonan, her desert rat friends chose a run to Wet Beaver Creek on the hottest day of the year.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb01dn.jpg)
Dennis and Kathy and I drove up Friday night and met David at the Starbutt's in Anthem at 6:30 Saturday morning.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb01mm.jpg)
We hit the trail about 8:30 am, but it was already so hot that we left a trail of sweat on the parched red earth.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb02dn.jpg)
About two miles out, just as the sun reached full strength, the trail began climbing out the valley and tracking along a ledge on the west side of the canyon.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb03dn.jpg)
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb04dn.jpg)
But several hundred feet below we were tantalized by glimpses of bottle-green pools. We reached the Crack about 10:00 and scampered down rocks that were almost too hot to touch.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb05mm.jpg)
Our reward was all the dipping we could stand in the most beautiful pool in the state of Arizona, on a day when only lunatics would go for an eight-mile hike.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb06mm.jpg)
We ate lunch in the shade, courtesy of the cottonwoods, Arizona sycamores, Arizona ash, and desert willow that Kathy identified for us.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb07dn.jpg)
On the return hike, temperatures topped 105 degrees and sent us scampering back down the cliff to make our way along the creek.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb09mm.jpg)
We stopped frequently to splash in the cool water, including this remarkable outdoor jacuzzi.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb07mm.jpg)
Kathy found a natural hammock for a nap in the shade. Did she soak up enough heat and sun to get her through her first winter back in Seattle?
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb08mm.jpg)
Despite David's "encouragement," Kathy finally got her feet wet in an Arizona stream.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb10mm.jpg)
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb11mm.jpg)
Finally, after three years in Arizona ...
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb13mm.jpg)
To top off a perfect day, we all met for dinner at the Haunted Hamburger in Jerome. Gusty winds and a leaden sky promised a good rainstorm, but delivered only a few sprinkles and loads of dry lightning
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb14mm.jpg)
As we drove home, lightning ignited brushfires before our eyes, and the sky was a bizarre mixture of smoke, storm clouds and rainbows.
![](https://www.desertlavender.com/northern-arizona/wet-beaver/images/wb15mm.jpg)
The setting sun catches a new brushfire on the mesa near Bloody Basin. If it doesn't rain soon, Arizona will explode. P.S. When we passed through Phoenix at 9:00 that night, it was still 109 degrees ...