Although Coronas are an excellent tool for having a great night out, they don't do much for installing new brakes. After I biked home from the bars, I dug out the brand new brake pads from my bag and put them on around midnight in anticipation of a ride around South Mountain in the morning. Needless to say, they did not pass the 6 a.m. quality control inspection. I groggily repositioned and tightened them before heading out to meet Jack and his buddy Josh for a Mormon/National Trail loop. One of my old coaches in high school always recommended that if we practiced with people that were better than ourselves, then we had no choice but to become better ourselves. Well, it was true for the shortest JV forward on Eastern's basketball team, and it's still true today. Jack is a better biker than me, and Josh is an absolutely stellar mountain biker who practically lives on South Mountain. By 7:30, I was completely regretting my decision to drink the night before, as even the fire road to the trailhead was laughing at my attempts to keep up with the guys. Things didn't get much better once we got to Mormon. Jack and I both struggled up the infamous, aptly named hill, "The Widowmaker," while Josh raced ahead and waited for us every few hundred meters, giving us great advice for tackling different switchback sections. I appreciated the advice, but my head was pounding and all I wanted to do was go back down and take a nap. Although the majority of the way out was up, both Jack and I learned a great deal about how to tackle some of the rough sections, and by the turn around point on National, we were definitely ready to head back down. The return trip was incredible, and both of us stayed on the bike the majority of the time, with the exception of the waterfall, which I didn't even get to see Josh bomb down because he was so much faster than us. Even though we were much slower than Josh, both Jack and I felt that we had improved a great deal since our first National run, gaining both control and confidence in our skills. The trail really is addictive, and I can't wait to get back out there again.
After the ride, I headed up to Scottsdale and met up with Angel and Christie. After a short detour to REI, we headed to Fossil Creek. The area had been so beautiful last weekend that we just couldn't resist going back up there. It was midafternoon by the time we arrived, so we hoisted our heavy packs an
d made our way to the first of the big falls without stopping. It had been a year since I had been to the oasis, but it hadn't changed much and was as incredible as it was the first time I saw it. Loads of water cascaded over the travertine cliffs, and we played in the deep blue-green pools to our heart's content. After playing around for awhile in the waterfall, we continued on upstream until we found a good spot to camp. Our choice was a good one: a small sandbar with plenty of hammock trees just upriver of a smaller fall with several swimming pools, and adjacent from some gurgling rapids. I set up my hammock and gathered firewood while Christie and Angel put up their tent and hammock. In no time, we were feeling at home. Although we didn't have enough time to hike up to the Flume Falls, we continued exploring upriver for the next few hours, swimming through the rapids, hopping the boulders, and admiring the amazing geology that adorned the cliffs. We've been to the Fossil Creek area several times now, and I had never noticed the quartz/gypsum structures in the rock before. The formations appeared as though lightning had struck and melted the quartz, leaving smooth pockets of layered glass-looking rock. It was the coolest looking thing, and for the rest of the trip, I would keep my eyes peeled for unique pockets of the natural glass. After a little more hiking around, we headed back towards camp, making sure to play in the pools, rapids, and waterfalls below our camp before the evening became too cold to swim. When we could no longer stand shivering behind the falls, we changed into dry clothes and started a fire in preparation for dinner. It was the first real camp fire we've had while backpacking (usually its too dry to have one), and it was a very warm, welcome change. For dinner, we had bread and cheese as appetisers and then baked vegetables in tin foil in the fire for the main course. Coupled with a package of Mountain House noods 'n' chicks and topped off with a few liters of pinot noir, it was an excellent meal. After several servings of wine and a few hours listening to gurgling spring and tree frogs while watching the stars through the trees, I curled up in my hammock and was rocked to sleep. Curled up in the cocoon of my hammock and sleeping bag, I c
ouldn't hear or see anything, and I didn't end up emerging from my bed until the sun had filtered through the trees of the valley. The three of us ate oatmeal and had spiced cider for breakfast, once again enjoying the fire and the peacefulness of the area before breaking camp. Once we had packed up and hidden our packs in a small thicket, we did what I never thought I would willingly and knowingly do again: we hiked up the hill across the creek to the Flume Road. The first time we attempted this, we failed magnificently, and were rewarded with cactus in places that we'd rather not mention. The climb was still long, steep, and prickly, but the fact that we knew there was a road up there did make things easier. We did eventually get up there, and then hiked along for another 3 or 4 miles to the Flume Falls. The power plant and associated flume on the springs had just been decommissioned a few years ago, so 
the riparian areas surrounding Fossil Creek are still adjusting to the differences. Last year when we went to the falls, the dam itself was dry enough to walk across. This year, water poured over the berm, and we had to cross downstream of the falls. The place was as gorgeous as I remembered though. I swam through the deep pools, up the strong rapids, under the hole in the rock, and out into the still pool across from the falls before diving off of the rocks and swinging from the rope swing. Once we had played ourselves out, we headed back along the Flume Road, and then hiked/slid back to where we hid our bags and continued on downstream. From there, we stopped back at the bigger falls for some more fun. Again, we played behind the falls, jumping into the amazing current and getting tossed around in the undertow before it spit us out a few meters later. Like a happy little sea otter, I floated on my back and simply smiled at the simplicity and beauty of it all w
hile I wore myself out swimming around the falls. Later in the afternoon, we hiked down to a smaller falls with plenty of fun areas around it and spent the last part of the day jumping off of the falls, exploring the travertine formations above the falls, and just relaxing on the smooth warm rocks along the creek. Once we were completely worn out from our playing, we returned to the car and headed back south. We stopped at a great Mexican restaurant in Payson and gorged ourselves on chips and salsa, burritos, and margaritas before making our way back to the Valley. All in all, another amazing weekend.
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