We did a new trail and off trail hike. Started on the usual main trail but wound our way to the Wildhorse trail which took us to a real remote feeling and isolated part of the park; it also took us to canyon areas and closer to the Tanque Verde Ridge.
After the main trail ends there is a well trodden and easy to follow use trail that we took over and through and around a canyon that got progressively narrower and rockier. We stopped at a bend in the wash in a large sandy/gravelly area for our lunch and nap. Loads and loads of pools; lots of them with stagnant water. and in the summer i can imagine swimming in several of them.
So Bill had planned a loop back and we were leisurely ambling to different trails and i think we ended up on the Bajada Wash or Vista trail. Stopped for our 3rd break and to soak up the sun and suddenly realized that we were a lot farther from the truck than we thought.
So the energy boosters got turned on. We never got to the trail we were headed for and as it got darker and darker, even though we weren't lost, we decided to go cross country. Bill's GPS showed us that we were really really close to our truck and we were! However, that destination was only reached by getting all scratched up from thorn bushes, acacia trees, mesquite branches and stumbling over rocks. We saw the canopy roof of the truck finally but still couldn't get to it cuz there was a barbed wire fence surrounding the parking area.
Quite an adventure that's for sure. The end of this hike reminded me how fast the desert can turn from a warm huggable blanket of benevolence to a chilly bone cold icy slap in the face.
