Agua Fria National Monument

July 31, 2023

As it was 111 F when I landed in Phoenix the day before, so I wanted to be on the trail by dawn this morning. The only sort of trail in this park is .75 miles each way that follows and becomes part of a dry creek bed to a river. There were several rabbits and lots of bees along the trail. It led to a mostly dry river that only had a couple pools of water left. There were plenty of animal prints in the mud including coyote, deer and possibly bobcat (looked feline as there was no claw imprint). There were also some faint petroglyphs on the boulders by the river. I was most of the way back before the sun started peaking over the canyon wall. I must have followed the creek bed instead of the trail as I ended up in a primitive campground that I did not know existed. Having no idea where I was, I used my phone to locate my air-tag that was in my suitcase in the car. I went cross country through shrubs, but I got back to the car safely. There was another section of this park that was supposed to be really good for archeological ruins. To access this area it is recommended to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle and I was driving a low rental car so I gave up on that idea.