Daylight is breaking very early at this time of year and we anticipate baking on the Tonto Trail today if we’re not careful.  So, we start hiking at 5.45 AM by agreeing to skip breakfast in camp and to have it later down the trail somewhere. 

It’s a beautiful morning and there’s an enormous amount of brittle bush in bloom, turning the Tonto platform yellow.  Soon the pollen turns my legs yellow too as I brush past many plants.

A beautiful morning	The hike to Boucher Creek

Abundant flowers	Prickly Pear flower	More great views

By 6.30 AM, it’s already feeling quite warm, but there’s some shade in the area of lower Travertine Canyon.  Soon after crossing that creek bed, I take a step and feel the gravel slipping out from under my feet and find myself dumped rudely onto the ground and then sliding slightly downhill on the loose stones.  Fortunately it’s not a part of the trail that I could fall from, and after a brief sulk and dusting myself off, I am fine to continue hiking.

Dean stops to have breakfast in the shade of a large boulder around 8 AM, and I power on, since I know that he can have breakfast and still catch up to me!  We end up arriving at Boucher Creek around 9.30 AM and I am glad we don’t have to be out on the trail any later since it’s really toasty right now.  While I have breakfast huddled in the shadow of a boulder, Dean uses paracord and some rocks to put a tarp over the remains of the old Boucher rock cabin as there is little shade at this campsite.

Looking out from my sheltering area in the Boucher rock cabin	Taking a brief step out of the shade

We spend a good chunk of the day under the tarp as the temperature climbs, with a couple of brief forays to dip into pools in the creek.  I have some ebooks on my phone, so I am getting a lot of reading done on this trip!  Later in the afternoon, a shadow finally crosses the Boucher Creek area, and we’re able to wander around a little more and relax. We move out of the cabin to one of the more spacious campsites, and sleep out under the stars again.

	The end of the day

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