Donna went for a hike early yesterday morning. She took a trail out of the east end of the park and hiked out into desert. She crossed a wide wash where she saw a small snake. From there, she continued on until she spotted a steep, flat-topped ridge that she figured might have a nice view. She left the trail to scramble up to the ridge. On the other side of the ridge was a steep cliff and down below, she saw some people dry camped on the BLM land. They didn’t see her, but she heard a woman ask, “What happened to my mimosa?”

Getting back to the trail created a challenge for Donna. Looking back as she prepared to make her way to the ridge, she looked for landmarks and noticed two ocotillo shrubs flanking the trail. They were the only two octotillos around – or so she thought. She found them on her return and started heading back. Then she noticed or rather did not notice any footprints in the sandy trail ahead of her. She was on the wrong trail.

After some backtracking and much debate with herself, she decided to continue on, hoping that this trail would lead her to the wash she crossed earlier. All the while, though, she kept looking to her right to see if there was another trail because she had a strong feeling that she should be over there. Sure enough, she spotted the other trail across a wash and made her way to it. There she found her footprints.

All in all, she figures she hiked about four or five miles. She has a new app on her phone that counts steps and mileage (Striiv), but it must have stopped calculating when she was taking photos and only counted a portion of it. She was out for about an hour and a half.

I couldn’t pull in the over-the-air signal from the Phoenix NBC broadcast, so I went to the clubhouse and watched the Detroit Red Wings game on cable there. The Boston Bruins won and the series is now tied 1-1. That’s what you hope for in a playoff series when you have to start on the road. If you can split the first two games against the home team, you’re in pretty good shape heading back to your own home ice. We’ll see how this plays out. Boston had the most points of any NHL team during the regular season and will be tough to beat.

Yesterday I wrote about the permanent lots here available to Escapees members. Here’s another photo showing an improved lot with a house on it.

Permanent lot at North Ranch RV Park

Donna and I took an evening stroll through the park. The weather cooled after 6pm and the evening air was agreeable.

Sunset behind our site

We thought we would pull out of here today and make the 100-mile run to Kingman before continuing on to Lake Mead. Plans have a way of changing.

The weather forecast is calling for high winds tomorrow. Both Kingman and Lake Mead will have fierce winds. The forecast calls for 20mph wind here tomorrow. I think our best option is to stay put in Congress for two more nights.

Today, we’re thinking about taking a ride on the scooter back to Wickenburg. We can kick around downtown and have lunch there.