November 7
41mi/66km
+3200ft/975m
Today was a beautiful day. Clear blue skies, beautiful mountain views, warm sun and a cool breeze. We climbed through the Sierra Anchas and got views toward the Four Peaks and the Superstition Mountains. The juniper trees are huge out here. We are definitely interested in coming back here to explore these mountains more.
As we finally began our long descent toward the Salt River, we got awesome views of Roosevelt Lake and all the surrounding mountains. We rode a steep downhill for 6mi/10km, then a gentler downhill, until we finally crossed the river. The flood damage is evident here, as it has been basically everywhere we’ve been the past week.
At one point in the descent, we turned a corner and suddenly we could see Saguaros. These are the first ones we’ve seen, another sign we’re getting closer to home. Last night we camped at 6000ft/1800m elevation. We were in pine trees and jumper. Tonight we are at 2700ft/822m. We are among mesquite and paloverde trees. We are officially in the low desert. It will be a much warmer night tonight than last night was.
We gathered water from the salt river, and had not filtered it yet when we decided to find a spot to camp. It was silty water, but we needed it. We turned down a side road to find a place to camp, and found a water tank for cattle. The water pool was as expected, but fed by a pipe from an enclosed tank, dripping clear water. We used the salt River water to wash some of the mud off our bikes that has accumulated over the past week. We gathered some clear water from the pipe to filter to drink instead.
