Pre-Plan Papago Park hike

The Malicdems are by far one of our favorite friends. For Christmas this last December they bought us a book with lots of hikes that are great for family trips. Best Short Hikes in Arizona is the name of the book. It was written/edited by Don and Barbara Laine and Lawrence Letham. There are 62 hikes listed. My goal is to complete all 62 hikes as part of this blogging experience. Papago Park is the first of these.

Some of the statistics for this hike are:

Distance: 3 mile loop

Starting elevation: 1244

Highest elevation: 1370

Hiking season: Fall through early Spring (summers are excrutiatingly warm)

To get there from our hometown of Coolidge I will probably take the following route:

1. Take 87 North
2. Turn left(west) on the 387 (I think?) The one towards the Interstate 10
3. Turn North onto the I-to even though its the west entrance to the freeway haha
4. Exit East(right) onto Baseline
5. Turn North(left) onto Priest
6. Stop at my favorite gas station QT (just north of the US 60)
7. Continue past Van Buren and turn left into the park entrance
8. Stop the car in the parking lot and let the fun begin!

I have been to this wonderful park a few times as a kid. I remember wondering what the heck the rocks are and why they look so holey? Well according to this book the holes are tafoni. Which are caused by water seeping through the rocks and dissolving the minerals. One fantastic thing to learn about nature.

So the plan is to wake up! Of course that is always the plan for everyday. Wait til after the 10:00 Am feeding then steal the baby for a wild trip into the great outdoors. I'll probably bring along the wonderful Oliver. Our other child of the four-legged kind.

Goals of this Blog

1 Have fun

Spending time with my beautiful daughter, and future other children will be fabulous. I can't wait to spend time outdoors with them. Having fun is probably the most important aspect of life. At least that is my opinion. What good is working hard, if you cannot spend lots of time playing.

2 Explore the Great Outoors

I have always loved the outdoors, but I am always excited to learn more and more. Every time that I am outdoors my appreciation for nature and her way of making beautiful items augments significantly. For example here in AZ we live in a desert. Temperatures during the summer exceed 100 deg fahrenheit, during the winter in some places temperatures reach single digits, and yet the plants of the desert continue to survive. And even flourish! Or what about the many organisms that survive in extreme salty conditions. Crazy I tell you crazy.

3 Spend time with my kiddos

As of the beginning of this blog I have one beautiful 5 month old girl named Adell. The name Adell comes from one of my wife's great great aunts. We liked picking a name that is not very common. Setting her apart from others in the beginning of her life. haha. We hope to have a few more children to add to the mix, but a 5 month old is quite a bit of work. So we will wait a bit longer to go for number 2.

I work as a paramedic. Sometimes this requires me to be gone for 24 hours or more. Having said that Katie (my lovely wife) has to put up with the child for an extended period of time, clean ALL the diapers, and put up with all the horrendously feared-crying spurts. Needless to say, I feel very sympathetic to her desires to be without child for at least a few hours. Lucky me, because my solution to that is take the kids away and enjoy some time away from home.