My afternoon was mostly a failure but still got to enjoy some cool scenery. Second and final stop was at the Carney Springs Trailhead for a failed attempt at hiking to the Wave Cave in Gold Canyon, Arizona. The drive to get here is down well maintained dirt roads and weather looked good all the way until I reached the parking lot…
I waited and waited some more trying to decide what to do. The trail to the Wave Cave is only 3 miles roundtrip so it’s not that far, however I know how thunderstorms work in the mountains. The longer I waited the worse it looked, and it was nearing 4pm in December so daylight was fading quickly. And it turns out you need to pay like $15 for a trail permit that I didn’t know about until reading the signs. Normally I would have pushed it but from my lack of sleep last night I erred on the side of caution (which wound up the right call as it did rain as I was leaving). No surprise – this isn’t the last inclement weather I would find (as usual).
Even though my hike was a fail there’s no question I succeeded in finding some amazing scenery anyways. This area is part of the Superstition Mountains and Tonto National Forest and just east of the Lost Dutchman State Park. With so many amazing natural features you could come here and spend your entire time hiking unique trails. Had my rental car ordeal not happened that was my plan. Oh well, maybe next time. For today it’s on to a last-minute terrible AirBnB and then I’m hitting the road.
Lat = 33.3965645 , Long = -111.3684921 -- Show at Google MapsAuthor’s Note: Due to many reasons – none of them very good – I’m posting this from the future in February 2022. Actual visit date/time December 5, 2019 3:52pm. I’ll backdate it later so as to maintain chronological order. I’ve got an overwhelming backlog of photos to process which is probably why I procrastinate. Hope you enjoy them all the same.