ATV Trip to the Four Peaks Recreational Area

We took a trip with our ATV's to the Four Peaks Recreational area about 1 1/2 weeks ago. It was our last trip with our friends Sharon & Craig as they were leaving for home 2 days later. Four peaks is north east of Fountain Hills on the way to Payson so we trailered our ATV's to the area before we could start our ride. We all met up in Usery Pass about 8am and traveled together from there. The day was warm but had a hazey sky that kept the sun from burning us. Little did we know we would be climbing 6000 ft above sea level and it would not be nearly as warm up there!

 This was us just starting out on the dusty road. I must say, the road was really good the whole way so made for a very enjoyable ride where you could appreciate the scenery, take pictures and actually talk to each other without holding on for dear life!!

 You can see the Four Peaks mountain range in the back ground and this is where we are heading

 As you can tell from the picture, we are slowly getting closer to the range

 The rock formations are incredible. There are places where there are big boulders everywhere and it looks like the earth just gave a big burp and deposited the boulders all around

 Trent, Craig and Doug, taking a coffee and snack break. Everyone has their jackets on as we have gone from high 80 degrees to probably high 60's as we have climbed a fain distance

 Loved this rock formation - it just looked so neat all by itself

 More piles of boulders along the way

 The wild flowers were out in profusion and I must say my nose and eyes let me know pretty regularly!! Theses are lupines and wild verbena along the road

 As we were nearing the highest part of the road, you can see the snow on the ridge off to the south of us.

 You can see the road ahead where we will be traveling, it seemed like we were never going to get there as we went over one ridge, down into a valley and then started to climb again

 We finally got over the last ridge and you can see Roosevelt Lake below us. It is the biggest lake created by damning the Salt River. The paper just recently said it is only about 54% of capacity due to the 10 years of drought Arizona has had

 I forgot my desert wild flower book out in the ATV and can't remember the name of this flower!

 This one is desert fleabane

 These are the wild hyacinth and are every where

This just shows how the hyacinths grow between the boulders

 A deep purple colour on this hyacinth

 

This is a large clump of desert verbena

 

I have not been able to figure out what this flowering bush is but it was every where up in the high country. It had the most heavenly smelling flowers and the air was thick with the scent. Of course my nose was running faster than the creeks we crossed and my eyes watering so much I could barely see but it was worth it to see all these shrubs in full bloom and to smell their scent.

 I was able to snap a picture of this butterfly on the flowers. You can see how it camouflages itself because it has the yellow wing tips that almost match the flowers

 We had situated ourselfs on a high bluff overlooking the lake to have our lunch picnic and some of us had to back down to the main road as there wasn't enough room for us all to turn around. We are sitting at the top taking a picture of Craig backing down

 Sharon Keyes and Ann when we stopped at an old home site well off the beaten track. The fellows were looking at the old metal water collection roof that had pipes running into a huge cistern below to store the water. Quite ingenious but I guess if you're going to live out in the god-forsaken nowhere - your water has to come from somewhere!

 We had to return to our vehicles and trailers the same way we came but of course the scenery was totally different when you go the opposite direction. This is near the top of a ridge looking west towards the Phoenix valley. You can see the haze hanging over the valley because of the heat and dust in the air

 We are coming back to our boulder rocks looking at them for the opposite side

 The haze over the valley is amazing when you are up high looking down!

 You can see the valley below we are heading for that we travel through and then over one more ridge to get back to our vehicles

 We were amzed at the number of fast running creeks we had to go through but I guess now that it has warmed up so much, all the snow from the higher mountains is starting to melt

 Another creek

 More running water

 Some funny rock shapes

 Another stream which we love because the air is so much cooler as we go through them!

 Water running down the ewash

 This wash must run pretty good as they actually had a cemented area over it so the road wouldn't wash out!

 More funny rocks

 These wild flowers are called Plains Blackfoot

 Oops, need my wild flower book for this one so it will remain unnamed at this time

We saw our requisite rattle snake crossing the road but at least this one had the sense to get out of waqy and challenge us!

The desert marigolds are everywhere and in full flower now. Much prettier than the marigolds I try to grow!

We ended our ride but going out for a final dinner with the group at the Golden Coral. Of course us women had to go into the washroom right away and try and wash the dust off ourselves while the guys couldn't have cared less what they looked like! Kind of sad knowing this is the start of the end for us and we won't see Sharon & Craig till fall God willing!

 This was the sun set in front of our house the same night after we got home. With the haze and dust in the air, it made for beautiful colours

 This was behind our house a little bit earlier than the previous picture