Adventures on Waterfall Trail

What: Hike with pugs and Mark
Where: Waterfall Trail, White Mountains, AZ
When: November 7th
Rating for humans:
Rating for pugs:




I have heard many things said about waterfall trail in the White Mountains. What I have never heard is how beautiful the surrounding area is, one can hear people talk about the beauty of the desert. Usually they say how beautiful it is after it rains, or how beautiful the sunsets are, which is undoubtedly true. Very few talk about the beauty of the bareness, but there in the White Mountains, it was truly beautiful. Maybe it is my love for geology, the cragginess of the rocks, the plants existence, or maybe it was the lighting being so great for pictures….. or maybe, just maybe it was me being happy that day. I found that park beautiful though, the whole area, and the trail was pretty and the area where the waterfall falls (when there’s any water) it was gorgeous. But the rest, the rest was just beautiful and it was the rest that truly made me happy.





I dragged Mark, who hates these things, out there for a picnic and a walk down waterfall trail. I knew the waterfall would not be running that it would be highly unlikely that there would even be any water in the bottom, where, according to my guidebook (The Best Hikes with Dogs Arizona) there was almost always water. I honestly can’t remember the last time it rained in Phoenix. I suspect it was the time, when still working at USAA; I took a claim for a mustang crushed by a skylight. It is completely off subject but I’m sure everyone is curious to hear the story. It was a royal blue’67 mustang, my favorite year, a microburst came through and ripped one of the skylights off the house, flew it 30 feet through the air and dropped it right on top of the Mustang. I’m sure at this point you are thinking that this was somewhere like Kansas or Virginia, but remember, we were discussing when it was the last time it rained in the Valley of the Sun.





We found a nice shaded picnic table and then realized that we had forgotten any kind of stake or long leash to tie the dogs with. After several minutes of trying to put the three on one leash, freeing the pugs, and yelling at each other out of frustration we came up with a very simple solution.






The barbecue grill slid off and down still attached to the rest of the barbecue, we could then slide the leashes onto a side bar. Pictures really are worth a thousand words.


























After eating Safeway sandwiches and Cesar cuisine we went on search for the trail. The trail is fairly flat with the exception of some easy hills towards the end. It was still a bit much for the pugs on this warm day and we found ourselves stopping every few minutes at the many benches along the trail. This gave us plenty of chances to look at the petroglyphs in the area. I suspect we saw considerably more than the many hikers who were rushing headlong down the trail without pause. We had pretty much decided to give up and Mark sent me on ahead while he stayed behind baking in the sun with the pugs. As soon as I crested the hill, where I had left them at the bottom, I moved into the cool shade of the mountain.


























I was correct in that there was no water in the bottom, it was a bit disappointing still. My pugs love to wade into water. Especially Leo, the dog who will not go into a pool or shower, like Oreo, or attack every hose and water source outside, like Willo. Leo will wade into every body of water that he can and love every minute of it. I presume it’s because he can do it on his own terms, the ultimate guideline in his puggy life. “Only what I choose to do,” should be Leo’s motto, because this easy-going, lovable little critter never does anything he DOES NOT want to do.

I texted Mark to bring them on ahead. Since there wasn’t any water, lot’s of people, and another dog that Oreo had a problem with, we chose for the pugs to stay out of the cavern where the waterfall lands. There’s 2 parts to it, I didn’t go up into the second part, afraid that me being such the klutz that I am I would’ve fallen and broken something - most likely my camera. Mark did though and he said that it wasn’t much different from the first part. It reminded me of the spillway at Blue Ridge, before they reconstructed it, the way the steep walls climbed up and away from where I stood. Of course the Blue Ridge area was quite a bit larger. Still, memories of the night we made the giant bonfire in the bottom came rushing back. A bonfire so large that my Mom could see it over a mile away at the bottom of the reservoir canyon, fun times!


























On our way back the temperature had dropped considerably and the land had a slight down slope. The trip was quite a bit shorter as the pugs happily skipped along knowing that they were going home.














I rushed around taking pictures of the petroglyphs which you can see even more of coming back and blabbered to Mark that we were coming back as soon as the next time it rained enough to make the waterfall flow. Of course, that could be months or even years here in the Valley of the Sun.