30 October 2019

Camping, and Hiking Horton's Creek.

by jensen

Reserved.

Our modest camp

I grew up camping. Some of my fondest memories are catching crawdads in Christopher Creek, hunting for quartz crystals at Diamond Point, fishing at Woods Canyon Lake, or the time a park ranger stopped by to chat with my dad while my mom was on our port-a-potty hidden only by our tiny camper door. Yet, I haven’t been in years. Mara and I changed that this past weekend just outside Payson at Ponderosa Campground; a place my family frequented when I was young and not far from many of the things I love to visit in Tonto National Forest. Mara was not an avid camper growing up, so I figured it would be a good way to ease back into the hobby since it is a family area and not too remote. In short, the trip was a success. Our last night was cut short by a weirdo, but more on that later. I’d first like to talk about our hike of Horton’s Creek.

Horton's Creek

Horton’s Creek trail is absolutely beautiful, and we could not have picked a better time of year. Fall colors are not in abundance in Arizona, at least not in most areas, but this trail had pockets of color tucked in among the evergreens to delight us the entire hike. The constant sound of the creek trickling and babbling, or sometimes the rushing sound of a small waterfall, made for excellent company.

Fall colors Creek

The longest hike we’ve done up until this was a little over 5 miles. This was 8 miles, and we were not sure we would make it to the end. We tackled it with the comfort of knowing we could turn back whenever we felt like it. Initially, we set a goal for doing 6 miles - 3 in and 3 back. At the third mile, we agreed it would be a damn shame to turn back so close to the spring at trail’s end. Of course, the last mile was the most difficult. As is often the trend with the hikes we choose, it seems they save most of the elevation gains for the last push. Seeing the spring was a cool experience, and we enjoyed the scenery, but I think the highlight was the sense of accomplishment as we made it back through the entrance and realized we were done. It certainly opened our eyes that, despite our sore legs, we can do this stuff and we are getting more fit as we take on more challenging hikes. Now let’s talk about the weirdo.

Morning Glory

Our first night at the campground was fun, but rough. We did not have adequate pads for our tent. I’m not sure the pads we brought were better than the ground. The ribbing they touted as a comfort feature actually felt like it was kneading your bones through the skin all night. To remedy this we swung through Payson and picked up some self inflating pads to sit on top of the first pads. We were excited and ready for our last night of camping. Then, around dinner time, as I was cooking, a gaunt man pulled up right beside our campground at the space meant for the campground beside us - which was very close so we were very glad no one had taken it. It would have felt crowded. He sat in the space and stared at us while we cooked. One of the hosts came round and talked to him a bit, he asked for directions. Twitchy and chain smoking he stood while he received a long string of elaborate instructions. After a few cigarettes he got back into his Jeep and pulled off. The host went back about his business. 30 minutes later, the gaunt man returned. Again, just staring at us in our campground. I tried to ignore him. We started to make s’mores as the sun set and it grew dark. He continued his twitchy smoking, which only made him weirder as the night encroached and he became a shadow in his front seat illuminated only by the cherry of his cigarette during long drags. I began to realize this was going to be a problem. Now, chances are, he’s just passing through and needed a place to crash on his travels so he parked at a campground. But it was odd to me that he seemed to make the host believe he’d taken directions and left. It also was odd that he had no tent, or camp gear, and was quite brazen about staring directly at us as we went about our business. I told myself “He has every right to be here as much as we do, and he’s not technically doing anything wrong.” That didn’t improve my mental state at all, though. It became clear I wasn’t going to be able to sleep, even if these were the most comfortable pads in the universe I was going to be up all night listening for the foot steps of this twitchy tweaked out man, trying to ignore the scent of his cigarette smoke pluming from his car. I asked Mara how she felt. “It’s creepy.” She agreed.

“Shall we go?”

“Yes.”

We then set some kind of record for tearing down camp in the dark. Given that I didn’t read about any robberies or murders the next day, we probably would have been fine, but I’m still glad we left. The man gave me a feeling in my stomach that whenever I felt it before in life I changed my situation as quickly as I could and it always served me well. Despite the weirdo, we agreed we had a wonderful time and we will absolutely be heading out camping again come Spring.

tags: vacation - camping - hiking