20 April 2024
Tonto Trail, Boucher Creek to Slate Creek to the Colorado River and back
(13 miles, +1,800/-1,800 feet).

This morning I woke up to find out that UltraShuffle had a party in his tent last night!

In the early evening he was awoken by something that crawled over his face.

It was a mouse! (Sorry, no picture ☹)

UltraShuffle opened his tent door and tried to shoo him out, but apparently he got trapped under the door. After some rearranging, the mouse finally fled and UltraShuffle settled down back to sleep.

And then in the early morning hours the same thing happened. Again!

So there were two mice.

This morning UltraShuffle examined the contents of his food bag and found nibbles on rice, tortilla, and jerkey. But nothing serious.

He surmised that the mice crept into the bag during dinner and then rode into the tent with him when he went to bed.

So much excitement here in Boucher Creek!

With all that behind us, we had a leisurely breakfast and prepped day trip bags for our hike to Slate Canyon, the farthest point west we will reach on the Tonto Trail (this time!).

Fortunately, it seems like the weather has cooperated and cooled down a teeny bit.

Or maybe it’s just easier to carry a day pack instead of a full backpack!

It’s choose-your-own-adventure getting down Boucher Creek until it becomes obvious where the Tonto Trail climbs out of the canyon.

We passed a very young woman hiking fast and a very old man hiking slow as they traveled east on the Tonto Trail. They did not seem like they were hiking together, but when I asked her if there was water at Slate Creek, she said “Yes! We camped there yesterday.”

So yay! Water in Slate Canyon. That will help us beat the heat today.

When we reached Slate Creek, we did not see the water foretold.

But then we found it! It was about 1000 feet up canyon from the trail crossing.

This was the end of our Tonto Trail extravaganza. I felt a little sad.

But we still had a day and a half of beautiful hiking ahead of us so I focused on that!

I know you will be surprised to hear this, but it was hot! I saw a hollowed-out ledge and headed straight for it. There was a cantilevered rock jutting out four feet, holding another rock on top. It reminded me of Potato Chip Rock in San Diego.

We got briefly lost getting back to the Tonto Trail. But the cross country was quite easy through here and we lost no time.

Back at Boucher we turned left to follow the Creek down to the Colorado River. At one point I bushwhacked for fun.

But it wasn’t fun! I had to retrace my steps. UltraShuffle waited patiently.

We hung out for a while by the river and when we thought shade might be returning to our camp, we headed back up the creek.

There was still sun on our tents when we got back to camp, so we found a shady spot by the creek to dip our feet. It was delightful!