Flowing Springs ATV Ride

Note: This is the same trip as the Fossil and Geodes trip. For instructions on how to get there please read this article. Fossils and Geodes

Well, today I finally got my chance. I told Robert that I absolutely had to get out of the house, get some exercise, and clear this fogginess from my head.

We decided to take some of our friends and head out to Flowing Springs, which is just outside of Payson, Arizona. We actually went out with the intent of finding elk and deer sheds. We never did find any but once again, we had a blast!

We've had a lot of rain and snow lately. The snow falls, sticks to the ground, and then melts soon after. As a result, the ground is just saturated and the dirt roads are just slimy. And this, of course, means a lot of fun on quads!

Here is some snow that is left on some dead trees. It's all melting so quickly that you can hear the water dripping off.

We had to cross quite a few creek crossings. This is one of the widest ones on the trip. In spots it was a little deep but no problem for our beasts.

We stopped on the way and walked a fence line for about 45 minutes or so looking for sheds. We didn't see any but Robert found a herd of elk. This one was just eating a tree when Robert whistled at it and got its attention.

After our walk we sat down to rest for a while and as usual I was seeing things I could take pictures of. Here is a little cactus of some type. I've actually never seen it before and I have no idea what kind it is but it is kind of cute. I wonder if it's a pincushion type of cactus. It sure looks like a pincushion.

And just what type of critter is this, anyway? LOL.

We decided to head on down to the East Verde River and have lunch. Here are some pictures that you can compare to the pictures I got earlier this year in the Fossil and Geode article. You can see how much more water is flowing in the river because of all our rain and snow.

Here are some cool close up shots. You already know about my fascination with water.

The river is about twice as wide as it was on our previous trip and the snow is still melting.

Okay, time for lunch!

Here is a cool shot on the ledges on the other side of the river. I love the zoom on this camera! (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8)

We decided that it was getting a little late so we started to head back to the trucks. There were spots on the road that were really slimy so we tried to get all the people behind us muddy but I think we only managed to get ourselves muddy. It was a lot of fun. On our way back across that wide creek we found out that the water had risen considerably. We got our feet wet on the way back across.

We had a REALLY good time and I think I cleared all that fog from my head. I got some air, exercise, and fun and I feel somewhat human now.

Oh wow, look at the difference between tire sizes between the Arctic Cat in the front and the Honda in the back. And the difference in ground clearance. I just noticed this. I am so happy with our (my) Arctic Cat!