Cave Creek Nature Trail - April 3, 2021

Cave Creek Nature Trail - 3 April, 2021

The weather is heating up! We decided to do the Cave Creek Nature Trail to keep Coco (and ourselves) in the relative shade of the oaks and sycamores lining Cave Creek.  Before we left, Annie’s friend, Mike, who was leaving today, stopped by to say farewell and to give us a bottle of champagne meant for happy hour to celebrate belatedly Paul’s 75th birthday.

We drove to one of the starting points for the Cave Creek Nature Trail at the Silver Peak Trailhead and inadvertently got on to the Silver Peak Trail, not the Cave Creek Nature Trail.  We traveled up a relatively steep and rocky trail until we got to a turn off to a viewing scope that we thought might be the Nature Trail.  

Silver Peak

Paul and Coco posed for a shot of at the viewing scope.   Then we proceeded along what might have been game trail until we decided that we had gone awry and returned back to the original starting point … good call Paul!

 

Paul and his Pup

That led us down the Cave Creek Nature Trail toward the Sunny Flat Campground and the trail was a delight ... under the shade of trees, along the banks of Cave Creek.  

The creek is mainly dry, some above ground flow, but mostly dry, although one can see by the width of the channel and the size of the boulders that it can hold quite a bit of water under the right circumstances.  We had a lovely hike and found Sunny Flat Campground to be quite a desirable location with well-designed campsites ... (note to self to remember Sunny Flat Campground for a future trip).  

 

Along the way, we found an abandoned shed formerly used for explosives …

Back to Bambi for a mid-day siesta …before heading to visit Annie for Happy Hour at her B & B, a cabin on the Hideout Ranch ... complete with a herd of 10 Nigerian dwarf goats, horses, a mule, a slew of rabbits, and a ranch owner trying to keep her ranch afloat after her husband died and left her with what had been a dude ranch ... Annie and Nala were her only guests.  The ground was covered with volcanic rocks from a volcanic explosion in the Peloncillos Mountains and with cottontails who were enjoying the shade underneath the cabins.  

We celebrated Paul’s birthday belatedly with champagne and appetizers, shared stories, watched rabbits, allowed Nala and Coco to hang together while we talked.

Headed back to Bambi in time for the UCLA vs. Gonzaga March Madness game ... unfortunately Gonzaga won, UCLA lost ... PAC 12 Men’s Basketball teams are now out of contention.  We’re all looking forward to the Women’s Final Game tomorrow between University of Arizona and Sanford.  

Bambi has become quite a fan of PAC 12 Basketball!