Sheep's Crossing

After driving to Sheep's Crossing Trailhead, I realized why I had never been there before. It was 42 miles of pot holes, washboard, boulders, steep cliffs, and creeks. The reward is the Verde River which snakes through the basin with surprising force. We began the trail by crossing the bridge. Ranchers used to walk their herds of sheep across the river several times a year to graze, and they invariably lost many sheep. The bridge solved this problem. The original bridge was replaced with this very similar one which stands today.

Christmas cactus! What a great surprise. They were everywhere.

The trail was long and rugged with no water along the way, despite the recent rains. I checked all the usual places, washes, near cottonwood trees; I even dug in some moist sand - nothing. Every once in a while, a huge flock of quail would fly out of a tree, startled by our presence. There were also tons of javelina tracks. The last four miles were quite steep, and I was really glad to reach the spring.

Willow Spring

The area near the spring was pretty and desolate.

Can you tell that Tahoe was excited to find water?

Water was abundant. There were many small pools of water around. While I was filtering some, Tahoe stood on a boulder, contemplating this pool. He must have decided it was land, because next I heard a big SPLASH. He had completely submerged and was quickly dog paddling to the other side. He only made that mistake once.

Nightfall in the Mazatzals

We spent two nights at the spring, and each night, I heard large animals walking around. Tahoe guarded our site while sporting in his stylish jacket.

I found an antler and a skull.

Nature's tv.

What a sneaky dog! While I was sitting by the fire, Tahoe made himself very comfortable on my sleeping bag.