Tucson to phoenix was an easy drive. Much easier than our week. This was by far our worst week this trip.

We were disappointed when we arrived at our destination Black Canyon Campground in Black Canyon City. We planned our destination to have a pool with upcoming week being warm temperatures. Unfortunately, as we have encountered several times, campgrounds advertise having a pool but it’s closed down for maintenence upon arrival. As parents, we are learning not to say anything to the kids about having a pool available until we know for fact. As F was so disappointed when we arrived in Black Canyon. The idea of having a playground was a huge plus though, so he headed off straight away to play. Unfortunately, the sandy playground was covered in all sorts of animal feces and the poor playset had seen better days. Honestly, it was a hazard and no more play was had on that playground during our trip.

The difference in landscape from Tucson to Phoenix was not noticable. The landscape is still covered in saguaro cactus and everywhere you look is mountains. Since our last stay was in the city of Tucson, we booked more remote in hopes of feeling more involved with nature. Our views were definitely much improved at Black Canyon.

We arrived on Sunday and as it goes we try to take advantage of every moment of the weekends with my husband. We took off once everything was set up and headed for Superstition mountain. Now my husband had been working on F all week, talking up Superstition mountain. Apparently, as legends go, a man (the Lost Dutchman) buried gold here when the Apache indians were approaching. He was killed and no one has since been able to find the gold. I found this hard to believe prior to visiting, as they legend states he buried it in a mine and covered it. How hard is it to find a mine? I thought to myself. After visiting, I totally get why. The mountain is so steep that no trails lead up it, but instead circle around. The $200 million dollars sits awaiting. If you are into history and want to know more, apparently the history channel has a show on it that is pretty informative. Since it was covered, there has been one man who apparently located the gold, and it was written in his journal before he passed on the mountain. They now have a general idea of where it’s buried, but again it has not been found. F’s main goal was to find that treasure. On the drive, he drew a map indicating where this treasure was and he insisted on following it during our hike… more on this later.

Prior to our stop at Superstition, we came across Goldfield Ghost Town. We were blown away at how realistic everything appeared. A train, gold mine tours, a museum, and active shops and restaurants. We showed up near closing so we didn’t get a chance to truly experience the place. Definitely a must see for littles. Here’s some pictures.

Post Goldfield, we headed across the road to Superstition where we had a wild time. We started our hike with L on my back and we took Birch, our dog, on his first desert hike. My husband held onto the leash and F guided us using his awesome treasure map. With sunset being so close, we agreed to forego a trail map and just follow F. Somehow I ended up holding the leash with L on my back and I was distracted. I hear a yelp and look to see Birch in a cactus. A giant ball of cactus pokes on the outside of where is eye is located. The poor dog. He didn’t know and with it being our first desert hike, we weren’t exactly the most experienced. I was more scared about him getting near a snake than thinking about cactus! My husband scooped Birch up and carried him back to the truck while we trailed behind. The poor guy had tried to swipe the burr off his eye with his right paw and got pokes in it too.

Please don’t worry now, I made sure he was okay and no longer in inclement pain before I took a picture. He stayed as still as he could on the tailgate while my husband and I pulled each of the pokes out. Thankfully his eye was not damaged, he blinked just in time and protected his eye from harm. While we took forever to pull each out, the guy in the background of this photo and his wife watched from their car providing commentary on how we were doing. Haha, I love how we meet random people. Birch is now just fine, just minus a whole lot of hair from the stress of it all. Sadly, we found no treasure that day.

One evening, my husband took over with the boys so that I could get my paddle in the water. Paddleboarding was something I was not really expecting to do in the desert, but after driving through flat dusty desert, there it was. Lake Pleasant. Beautiful, crystal clear waters. Spectacular mountain views all around, and unexpectedly saquaro cacti lining each of the mountains. Such an amazing contradictory display!

The next day was laundry day. I packed up one of our handy laundry bags, my new favorite thing because it goes on your back. I’m all packed up with my first bag full and I step down the camper steps. The last step ends on gravel and there is a little step up onto a concrete block pad. The two were covered with our outdoor rug, a risky move. I stepped down, not noticing the difference in heights and my ankle twisted. The giant, I assume 20lb, bag of laundry on my back threw me off balance. I screamed for help instantly crying. I knew it wasn’t good.

My husband carried me back into the camper and we waited until the next day to make a judgement call on whether I should be seen. Of course, only an evening didn’t really help the pain or swelling and I was taken to an outpatient ortho clinic the next day. A hairline fracture, small enough where I didn’t need to be casted, but just booted for 6-8 weeks. On the other hand, Dr. found an osteochondral lesion which he recommended me see a foot specialist sometime in the future. Thankfully, after all of this diagnosing my husband thought it best to take me, my boot, and my crutches to a close winery.

Upon return from the winery, we pull up to the entrance of our campground and there is a police officer with his lights on, blocking the entrance. Seriously, what could possibly be going on? We asked the police officer if we could return to our camper and he said “I’m sorry ma’am but it’s not safe right now.” What does that mean? Is there murderer? Escaped convict? Masked man? What could be happening? All these thoughts are racing through my head… The police man told us we could return in possibly two hours and see if it’s safe. Mind you, it’s now 9PM and our little guys are so ready for bed.

We take off and hang out in a local parking lot for a bit, just to see how long it will take. We notice lights from where our campground is, so many cop car lights…

We finally return after some time and are allowed entrance into the campground. My husband drives around an ENTIRE SWAT TEAM loading into their vehicles. I can’t even describe the feelings I had, but all of them echoed the thought of “Let’s get out of here!” My husband needed for his own peace of mind to know what was going on to determine if we should leave. He talked to the office who reported a man and his son had been drinking in their camper (2 campers down from ours!) The wife/girlfriend wanted to go out drinking and the guys wanted to stay back. There was a fight in which the father took the baby from the mother at gunpoint. A swat team was called because the man would not back down and the entire swat team was lined up at one point with all guns aimed just two campers down. THANK GOD we were not there.

So after our crazy few days of cactus burrs, broken ankle, and a swat team standoff… we had one thought: Did we bring back bad joojoo from superstition mountain? Perhaps, but we are heading to energy vortexes in Sedona where surely our lives will balance.