The most spectacular waterfalls with no water

As usual, The Commander had a fire in her pants that could only be extinguished by dragging Kadizzle's sorry butt two thousand feet up a mountain. So off we headed to find two waterfalls high in the Mazatzal Mountains. The trail led to Edwards Park, but our goal was a detour to see the “wonderful waterfalls”. After traipsing along a long level ridge, the climb started up one hogback after another. Every climbing trail has the same psychological trick. You are deluded into thinking you are near the summit, only to find there is another summit, and another summit. It is a reminder of our Grand Canyon hikes, where this happens all day long. Hiking to the waterfalls made Kadizzle think more and more of hiking out of the Grand Canyon. The waterfall would end up having a total elevation gain of about half way out of the Grand Canyon.

The view kept getting better. Below the valley, Lake Roosevelt stretches for thirty miles. The little rat towns of Pumpkin Center and Tonto Basin are far below. 90% of the people in these towns live in a little prefab box of some sort. Ideally, the yard around the house is strewn with junk of every sort. Local tradition is to periodically go to the thrift store and buy crap, then sell the crap, then go to the yard sale and buy more crap, then sell it at your yard sale. By the time you die, everyone in town has had coffee from the same coffee cup you bought with Martha on you trip to Disneyland. You know the cute one with Micky Mouse.

Back to the hike. Higher and farther into the hike, the sme thought begins to occur. Three miles up means three miles down and back. Almost to the waterfalls, two things start to become evident. First, there is no water. Even though there was a recent rain about a week ago, the desert has dried up, and the prospect of water actually flowing over the great waterfalls is slim. Now, for the second classic problem on epic hikes, we have to get back by dark. Oddly, The Commander who always wants to plunge on no matter what the cost, declares that perhaps we should head back. Happily Kadizzle agrees. After climbing Everest and getting within site of the peak, we turn back. Kadizzle planned from the start to use spring water as part of his supply for the trip. Climbing this began to look like a stupid move, there was no water. Strangely, a little trickle did appear near the top of the hike. A stop was made to filter about two pints of water.

Sitting here this morning, Kadizzle took an expanded view of the topo map. Holy sore legs, we could have driven almost to our destination from a different direction. We would have made the falls, but they still would have been dry.