Chilly winds and patchy clouds kept us cool as we walked through Safford shopping and eating. Our way out of town was on dirt roads between cotton fields. The first of all the fields was being irrigated. The rest looked planted and ready for water. We crossed the Gila River again but a much smaller version this time, a mere creek in a very wide sandy wash with an SUV tearing around below us.

A major goal for today was up and over Solomon Pass.  I enjoyed the views and walk as the deserted paved road turned to a gravel road. The desert is more open and sparse so the wind pushed us all day but I enjoyed the views.

The excitement for the day arrived just after the sunset. Our private road had a car that caught up to us. It was the Sheriff's Search and Rescue (SAR). When they stopped to talk to I was worried so I asked the first question, "What are you doing here?" They said they had a call to find a tan Xterra and had we seen it. They drove on a short distance to a dirt road junction, taking the right fork while we went left.

We set up out tent right beside the road at an s-curve, cooked and went to bed. At 8 pm headlights on the tent made us pop up to flag down the vehicle. It was too dark to see so I asked the driver what he was driving and explained that SAR was looking for an Xterra. "Oh, that explains the flashing tail lights we saw way back there." I told him to go back to help the stranded people but he said it was way, way too far. He agreed to call the Sheriff when he got to town. We went to sleep.

A couple of hours later two SAR trucks zoomed by. The last backed up to ask who we were and where our car was, then bounced after the first truck. We went to sleep.

At 1:18 am headlights hit out tent again, this time three pairs in succession and heading in the other direction. Mission successful. We slept until morning.

Hi Elevation 4969'

We walked on this morning with the dirt road all to ourselves without seeing Search and Rescue. Their mission was successful.

The desert has opened with less vegetation and small rolling hills. Our awesome find before 8 am this morning was a new solar panel with a metal water tank that drained to an earthen tank. The water from the metal tank tasted like new plastic hose. We filtered but the taste remained. The cows didn't seem to mind and happily slurped. The area did have a strong scent of skunk, though...as a protest?

We started on the historic Safford-Morenci Trail which began as a pack train route to carry goods from Safford to the Morenci Mine in 1874. The trailhead was nicely developed by BLM and we followed new smooth dirt road for a while. Then the trail took the standby Arizona route: in the rocky wash. It seems that washes have been the means of navigation for more than 100 years. The way is so rocky and rough with rocks of all sizes. I think the pack trains must have been mule trains rather than horse trains. Even so, I had a hard time believing that the pack animals could manage the terrain. Once we climbed over an old, low cement dam; another dam was too high so we edged along on the rough bank, avoiding the prickly pear cactus at the same time.

Late in the afternoon I was making a mental list of the reasons that I dislike washes: the roughness, lack of views, the meandering from bank to bank to go up and over a hill and back into the wash...My list making stopped when we got to Bonita Creek to cross water at a beaver dam. We stopped so Ken could filter water and I started the day's journal.

I knew we were going to yet one more wash so my mental list continued when we started to hike. Our next wash was totally, awesomely, gorgeously different. It was red sandstone with walls instead of dirt banks and narrowed to a true slot canyon that I could span without fully extending my arms. It wound its course tightly and steeply. Cement steps were in place for the mules. The late afternoon sun cast beautiful shadows down in the canyon. I would have been happy walking that slot to the ends of the earth and back. What fun! We didn't bother to put our cameras away between shots.

After we exited we started the required late-in-the-day climb entertained by rocky walls poking out of the dirt hills. A hermit lived in a cave in one. The others looked like dragon backs to me but were call Turtle Hills. When the sketch of a road turned to trail in a flat area we knew we were at our camp site for the night.

We had the last flat smooth campsite for miles. We were on the steeply climbing trail 45 minutes after we woke up. Once we were over Bellmeyer Pass we had the same steep trail down.

We had some unique trail today. Both the cattle herd and we were headed for Smith Spring.  The cattle traveled single file leaving a trail of dusty right-foot left-foot marks in the rocky wash as their hooves pushed the rocks aside. The steps were the right size for me to use so I could move quickly and easily for the first time on rocky terrain. It was also one of the few times that I appreciated cows.

We got to dry Smith Spring. I heard crashing hooves behind a tree and told Ken the cows were looking for water too. The "cows" were three big horn sheep, all with full curl horns! They didn't want to move so we took several photos as we walked on.

We had no desire to hike up yet another rocky wash so when an alternate was suggested by the guide we opted for the dirt road walk which is the equivalent of two trails side by side. We waded the creek, ambled past a pump house and followed 18" piped water towards Morenci Mine. I like to stroll easily looking at the unfolding views of ridges and ravines, one after another.

We walked to the base of red mine tailings that were striped with orange and ocher. Then walked around them eventually climbing even with the top. When our dirt road ended at the pavement we were finished hiking for the day.

Our next resupply box is at the PO in Morenci, the company town owned by the Morenci Mine. We called the motel for a five mile lift to town to no avail. A Forest Service truck and driver stopped but explained that it was against regulations for her to give us a ride. As she called the Sheriff to send a car for us a retired miner offered us a ride.

We got a room in the old wing of the motel. I thought of going back to ask for a new room that was built in 2008 but decided not to bother. The clerks were slow and unhelpful. We sorted laundry (the motel clerk said a Laundromat was "below us" but that turned out to mean the town four miles away and a couple hundred feet lower).

Disaster! I took a shower, slipped but didn't fall. I was going to tell Ken but forgot by the time I got out. There wasn't a grab bar or non-skid surface. Ken fell when he got in, breaking three ribs. I told the office and the clerk said that she would note the fall in "the book"...yawn.

The adventure is over while the ribs heal. We both were tempted to try to hike on but carrying a pack and sleeping on the ground don't seem feasible.