Some Great Hikes in Mesa, Riparian Preserve And a Fabulous Dinner!

When we get ready to leave an area, Sparky and Eldo always try to get some last visits/hikes/touristy things done in case we don't return to the area. In this case, we are fairly certain that we WILL be back next year, as Mesa was one of our favorite destinations this year.

Sparky wanted to check out three things before we left--a hike at Lost Dutchman State Park, which is on the way on the Apache Trail near Apache Junction, a challenging hike at Usery Mountain Regional Park and the Riparian Preserve, right in Mesa.

Lost Dutchman State Park was AMAZING! It was named after a famous lost gold mine and is in the Sonoran Desert right up against the Superstition Mountains. The lost Dutchman, wasn't really Dutch, by the way. In the 1870's, Jacob Waltz (who was German) supposedly located a gold mine and worked it for awhile, hiding some gold stashes in the Superstitions there. In bad health in his later years, he supposedly described the location of the mine to a neighbor before he died in 1891. People have tried to find the mine and some have met with foul play or death in their efforts. There are a lot of superstitions and legends about the Superstition Mountains and the lost goldmine, so many that books and films have been produced about them.

There are several trails that go from the park into the desert and surrounding Tonto National Forest. Sparky picked the Treasure Loop Trail today rated moderate....a 2.4 mile round trip with an elevation change of 500 feet. This trail was much easier by far than the Wind Cave Trail at Usery Mountain Regional Park, which was rated HARD that Sparky tried to do a few days before. More about that in a moment.

There are six trails that you can choose from at Lost Dutchman, the most challenging being the Siphon Draw Trail, which is 4 miles round trip and winds around into a canyon with a 1,000 ft. elevation gain to the basin area. WOW! Another time, Sparky might try that one. Not only is that trail difficult, the trail is not maintained past the basin, and there are elevation gains of over 2,000 feet. It takes 5-6 hours to do that one. Then again, Sparky thinks, well, maybe that one better be for somebody else. (Eldo is glad that she has come to her senses.)

The Treasure Loop Trail was spectacular in itself and a good heart pumper near the top of the trail. It starts in a beautiful picnic area, and ends back there. You literally hike right up to the mountain cliff walls.

The scenery is just terrific and you have to stop a lot just to admire these fantastic views--and to catch your breath if you are older, like Sparky. This view below is about 2630 feet up. The trail is fairly wide at the beginning, it's sometimes shared by horseback riders and then the trail narrows the higher you go. it was a wonderful hike and very doable for a senior. Sparky says the average age on the trail today was at least 65 and up. 

Next up, a hike at Usery Mountain Regional Park called the Wind Cave Trail, rated HARD, rated DIFFICULT, rated NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART OR THE WOBBLY. (Sparky's rating, the last two.) This is a 2.9 trail out and back near Mesa. It's VERY popular so there were a lot of people on the trail the day Sparky went, including a guy that only had one leg and was on crutches.(!) Sparky went last year and because of dizziness, didn't complete the entire trail. So she tried again this year, going further than she did last year, but was not able to finish due to severe sciatic troubles and worries about balance again.  Here's a map of the trail:

See all those wiggly lines? those are switchbacks, NARROW switchbacks, ROCKY switchbacks. Whew! The goal was to get further than last year, and she did. It really was a tough trail. Your goal is to reach near the top of those mountains in the distance, to an indented  area with a cave.

Here's what the Wind Cave Trail looks like in many places....

That IS the trail in front of you....

And another beautiful view....

Sparky was all hiked out and her sciatica was really flaring by the time she finished this hike.

Well, after a tough hike, it's time for a great meal! We discovered Steak and Stone, a restaurant in Mesa right beside a small airport. Great steaks cooked on LAVA stones, while you watch a steady stream of small planes take off and land at the airport. The steak comes to your table raw, but it's cooking on the lava rock as it arrives. You take it off the stone when you are ready for the degree of doneness you like. Which for Sparky, is almost immediately, haha. Luckily, Eldy is not grossed out by Sparky's love of very rare, extremely rare beef.

And the last wonderful visit was a trip to the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch in Gilbert just outside of Mesa. It's a water wonderland-- a 110 acre wetlands/wildlife sanctuary with 4.7 miles of trails if you walked all of it all over the place in and around the ponds, one floating boardwalk, a simulated dinosaur dig, an urban fishing lake, three overnight campsites, an observatory, bird viewing blind areas and multi use trails. So many waterfowl to be seen! there were LOTS of Northern Shoveler ducks that day....They were in such a feeding frenzy that you can't see their unique shovel shaped bills.

And songbirds and hummingbirds....

Sparky thinks this is a black chinned hummingbird below. Even though the throat feathers or gorget (which comes from the days of knights when they wore metallic collars to protect their throats) are purple, when he turns his head they look black unless the sun is shining directly on them.

This is a good place to see Gambel's quail all over! Sparky had been trying for DAYS to catch these fast little guys around the campground, but at the preserve, they were too busy scratching the sandy dirt for bugs to notice and were quite used to the people walking around them.

Northern mockingbird

Ruddy duck

Many lovely places to sit and bird watch or people watch.....This is a wonderful place to see lots of different bird species....We highly recommend visiting Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch.

Mallard pair

And with that, we are leaving tomorrow for a return visit to Cottonwood, Arizona, where we will be for two weeks. We are still waiting for our jacks repair (parts have been ordered, the extended warranty company is going to foot MOST of the bill) and Sparky's broken tooth repair (Sparky is footing all of that crown repair bill).  She wishes there were extended warranties for teeth, haha, but we don't have dental insurance so that's the way it is. You go for a very long time with no problems, then BOOM, you eat a bagel and half your tooth breaks off and costs you an arm and a leg and a crown. 

It's very cold in Cottonwood right now, but Eldo hopes temps will warm up soon. Sparky is loving the temps, but not in the twenties at night, according to the weather app! See you later! Thanks for following along with us. We love sharing our journey....

on the Apache Trail in AZ 2023

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Maine-ly About Maine....

Wells, Maine.   High: 81, Low 67 Site #309 out in the open, AT&T not good, texts don't always go through, dropped calls...T-Mobile wifi not much better.

We are winding down our time in Maine, we leave in ten days. Eldy took another train trip to Elkhart on the Amtrak to get some preliminary eye doctor work done in preparation for cataract surgery, staying with his son and family for a few days and Sparky stayed at the RV park to take some last side trips to iconic Maine destinations nearby.

Eldy REALLY loves train travel. His trip to Elkhart was a total of 19 hours. He took Amtrak from Wells to Boston, then from Boston to Elkhart and back for the return trip, too. He loved it, even sleeping in the regular train car. The seats have footrests and recline way back so he was able to sleep. Eldy likes to watch the train cams often in different parts of the country, particularly Elkhart, as it is one of the larger train hubs in the nation. We've heard it's the third largest in the country. He's always amazed at how many Amish get on the train in Elkhart, but no surprise there, there's a large Amish community nearby in Goshen and Shipshewanna.

Old Orchard Beach

Meanwhile, Sparky got up at 5:00 A.M. one morning to head out to Old Orchard Beach, about a 30 minute drive from the campground. She had seen some beautiful shots of the iconic Old Orchard Beach pier. Hers are not as pretty as a lot of them out there, but it was cool to see it and get some photos just the same. It's a popular destination spot for engagement photos. The 500 ft. pier seems to be entirely closed in which is too bad because it's nice to be able to walk out on a pier farther out, watch the ocean, feel the breeze on your face and smell the ocean smells and maybe see a big fish or a dolphin.  The pier is old school timber architecture and really showing its age. It looks a bit dilapidated and reviews have said the inside is dark and dingy with just a few shops open. It must have been quite the destination in its day. It was originally built in  1898 out of steel and had a casino with a ballroom at the end of the pier! The ballroom is gone now, but there used to be big swing bands and famous jazz players who came to play there.

The town itself is a throwback to the 1960's with a big amusement park right in front of the ocean. It has a vintage roller coaster and the park opens at 4:00 PM in the summer. Head to the beach for the day, then head over to the park for carnival amusement at night.

under the pier, cool timber structure

Speaking of the beach, it's about 7 miles long..It covers three towns--Scarborough, Old Orchard and Saco. The beach right by the amusement park in Old Orchard was extremely dirty with litter near the pier. Ugly litter---lots of pop bottles, water bottles, drink cups, trash. There were trash bins available along the beach, not that far at all to walk over and deposit your trash -- but people just left their litter behind on the sand. Apparently, drinking booze is overlooked as long as people are not flaunting actual bottles. Sparky saw shot glasses at the beach in the sand! She picked up some large litter and could have filled a garbage bag within a few yards of walking the sand. So sad.

Back at the park, Sparky put up a hummingbird feeder and oh, boy, did the hummers come! We think previous site renters had bird feeders. There was an abundance of bird seed all over our grassy plot next to the site. Hard to pick the best hummer photos, but here are a couple....

hummer photobomb!

Another iconic Maine destination is Portland and the lighthouses in the area. Sparky signed up for a 5 lighthouse biking tour in Portland, kinda pricey for 129.00 per person. FIVE lighthouses, an EXTRA LARGE lobster roll lunch, for about 14 miles of bike riding, a narrated tour with a guide and a maximum group of eight cyclers at a time, with Trek bikes/helmets provided. This was booked directly thru Summer Feet Cycling in Portland. If you should accidentally see this tour offered thru Trip Advisor, they charge a lot more--fourteen dollars more! Book directly thru the bike shop. They appreciate that!

Sparky will tell you right now that 1. There is elevation involved going up and over the Casco Bay Bridge and on the return trip an even steeper climb, plus some hilly areas along the way, but nothing that most people in average shape cannot handle, 2. The bike seats are HARD, the bikes are Trek FX bikes with rough handling gear changes and lower handlebars, and NO step through style. Several people, including Sparky, had trouble swinging their leg over the mid bar and the saddlebag provided on the back. She had to lay the bike down on its side to get on it, lol.  3.There is a lot of on street riding. During the early morning start of the tour,  not a problem, coming back, very congested car traffic and you are riding along very close to the cars along some cobblestone street areas once you get back to town. The trip starts in Portland's Old Port district, over the Casco Bay Bridge, thru Ferry Village, then on to Bug Light, the first lighthouse which marks the entrance to the Portland break water. It's a shrimpy little lighthouse, so that's how it got its cute name. At this stopping point, we learned a little bit about Portland. It has burned completely to the ground FOUR times. After the 4th fire, a law was passed that all structures had to be built from brick, and after that, no more fires! Most of the buildings are brick in Portland and you can see a lot of them lining the waterfront. Portland was also a big rum district back in the day and there was an interesting story about how the mayor tried to confiscate, stockpile and stash away the locals' rum in his basement when prohibition came. The townspeople found out about it and all hell broke loose. They got their rum back. 

Bug Light

Liberty memorial/kiosk

After Bug Light Lighthouse, we stopped at an interesting looking ship formation. This memorial kiosk covered the history of the Liberty ships built during WWII. Lots of great information about the ships. Sparky learned a lot about these war ships through the kiosk. Liberty ships were designed as merchant cargo ships during WWII to be built as fast as possible under the Emergency Ship Building Program under President Roosevelt and welded rather than riveted. You've heard of Rosie the Riveter? Well, the South Portland shipyard, one of the ports where the ships were built, had Wendy the Welder. Women entered the workforce during that time in record numbers as the men were entering the war. The average time to build the ship from start to finish was 52.5 days. The shipbuilders worked seven days a week, 365 days a year in three shifts. The ships were welded instead of riveted and sections prefabricated, numbered and partially assembled with sequence and position for assembly to save time.  Some of the ships experienced cracks and fracture failures before ever seeing service, but they were still a valuable asset to help the Allies win the war. They were able to build these slow (11 knots per hour) but necessary cargo ships faster than the German U-boats could sink them! The ships had to endure, monsoons, typhoons, bombs, mines and icebergs, but helped the Allies maintain their supply lines. Two hundred sixty-six ships were built in Portland. And think of the winters back then! Temperatures in Maine fell between 10-30 degrees below zero back then! Out of 2,700 Liberty ships built, only 200 were lost. Eventually, the Liberty ships were thought too small and too slow, so another line of ships took its place, the Victory ships.

Before losing lens cap

Continuing on, a ride to Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse. This lighthouse is on a long breakwater ledge on the Southern Maine Community College campus. This lighthouse was twice the size of Bug Light but still small. You had to walk a VERY large boulder path with deep crevices and rock hop from one boulder to the next to get out to the lighthouse. Sparky lost her lens cap down a crevice there. (Good thing she didn't drop her keys! exclaims Eldo.) Sparky panicked for a second when she heard that CLINK, as the cap hit the rocks below. But thankfully, she had placed the truck keys deep inside her fanny pack. Whew! 

The boulder walk to the lighthouse was a little nerve wracking, you really had to practice "mindfulness". Apparently, Sparky didn't as she lost her lens cap, but at least she kept her feet from getting stuck in a crevice.

Fort Preble, a 19th century fort, had very little left of it's structure, but if you used your imagination, you could envision the troops guarding the waterfront. Sparky missed a little of the history as she just HAD to get this photo of a schooner passing by through one of the sentry ports.....

On to Shore Road, Portland's wealthy district of ship owner homes. Sparky was too busy watching street traffic and avoiding potholes or possible damaged pavement to see the houses along the way. Next lighthouse, Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse. It was very cloudy at that point so it was tough to get a decent photo. Actually, it was too foggy and dreary to get one at all. So here is one from the internet.

Some doctor bought it recently, for $95,000. Sounds like a bargain, really! We don't know if he was going to live in it or rent it out for an Air BNB, haha.

Next, a stop at Portland Head Light. It is the MOST photographed lighthouse in America. It's a classic and so beautiful. The sun came out for this shot!

Portland Light before the sun came out

We ate lunch there from a local food truck. It was very good! Sparky could have gotten a lobster roll, but settled for a caprese sandwich on ciabatta bread. It was delicious! There were three kinds of lobster rolls you could have ordered and an assortment of Maine crafted soda drinks, blueberry soda, or Moxie--a sort of sharp, bitter root beer, Dr. Peppery type of drink. It's the official soft drink of Maine, but Sparky opted for her drink of choice--Coke. The bees and wasps invaded our picnic, but we held them off. We took a few more photos of the Portland Head Lighthouse...The lighthouse tower is only open one day a year on Maine Open Lighthouse Day and only a limited number of tickets are sold for people to be able to go in...288? Something like that. Sort of like the lottery!

Silly me at Portland Light

We spent about 20 minutes at Portland Light, the last lighthouse and then it was time to head back. First, a group shot....Sparky thinks she was the oldest in the group.

We headed straight back to the waterfront where we first started. The total bike riding time, actually on the trail (the Eastern Bike Trail-a rails to trails which was a nicely paved portion), and streets, was about 2.5 hours, and the mileage was a little over 14 miles. The total time of the tour was 4.5 hours.

Is this a really good bike tour? Sparky would say, and this is just her humble opinion, it was just all right. It was a little too expensive for a tour like that, and the information and history given was very short and sweet. The bikes were just OK. There was a lot more street riding and although the group was cautioned about safety rules, it was a little nerve wracking to be on city streets during prime traffic time on our way back. If you go on one of these bike tours and you are in the middle to the last part of the bike "train", please remember to STOP for red lights. The rest of the group WILL wait for you to catch up. Sparky witnessed a VERY angry driver who waited for several bikes to pass through in front of him while he had the green light. Another caveat: the bikes had NO reflective rear light on the back. NONE. There really needs to be reflective lights on bikes for street riding. Even better, flashing red lights on the back for as much on road riding as we did. Sparky wished she would have asked if you can bring your own bike. It would have been great to have a little more information or history to the tour for the price. What was nice is that we were able to explore for a few minutes on our own at each stop, but there wasn't enough time to explore the museum at Portland Head AND get photos. Sparky did enjoy having enough time to explore on her own and look for photography shots. It's great when you are an avid photographer and want to get that perfect shot, like this schooner shot through a sentry hole (?) at Fort Preble. 

The other drawback was the pace. When you lead a tour like that, you have to watch and pace the entire group based on your slowest rider. We averaged 6-7 mph, and later, the group requested a little faster pace. The group was on average, a younger group, so everybody appreciated the pickup of the pace later on. For some, slower is better....but Sparky appreciated the quicker pace. If you do do the tour, street parking is limited nearby, but there's a city lot for 15.00 a day or less. Other than that, we had a really nice college student for a guide and she was knowledgeable and took good care of the group. This was just one of several bike tours offered in Portland.

There are also so many cool towns nearby Wells. There are resort towns and beach towns all along the coast of Maine, of course. Resort towns seem to attract the wealthy and have pricey restaurants, big mansions, pricey food and accommodations and big yachts, haha. Beach towns attract a different crowd and seem to have more reasonable prices for dining and activities. Old Orchard is a beach town. Beautiful Kennebunkport, a short distance to drive, is a resort town, and is the summer home to the former Bush presidents. You can view the compound from across the harbor. There is also a VERY upscale fantastic restaurant there called Cape Arundel Inn. We had a terrific birthday dinner there last year which was a birthday present from Sparky's brother, Rich. You can see the Bush compound from the restaurant windows while you dine. Kennebunk, another fishing/harbor town, right next to Kennebunkport, is a beautiful little town to visit. The flowers and landscaping are AMAZING in the summer. 

Both towns offer amazing dining experiences, lobster boat tours, and plenty of tourist shopping. Both of them are extremely popular tourist towns in the summer. AND--Kennebunk has the Eastern Bike Trail which you can hop on behind Kennebunk Elementary School. There is an information kiosk to the side of the school at the spur entrance to the trail and plenty of parking for both the school and cyclers. Just park as far to the side of the school as you can, away from the entrances to be courteous. Sparky has seen SASQUATCH on the trail! Really!

Check out the footprint in case you don't believe....haha...

Ogunquit is another little town (pop. 1,000) that swells in the summertime, on Highway 1, south of Wells. It has the popular mile and a quarter long walk (one way) along the harbor called Marginal Way with 39 benches to stop and sit and watch the waves crash onto the cliffs and shore. 

There is also Perkins Cove, a terrific little village with shops, restaurants and galleries to explore inside of Ogunquit right where the Marginal Way walkway begins. 

Perkins Cove

a restaurant at Perkins Cove

Barnacle Billy's is the top rated restaurant in Ogunquit. They are Maine-ly known (haha) for their lobster dishes, but of course! Sparky rode her bike down to Ogunquit and the Marginal Way for one last look today. There are several entrances where you can pick up the trail. Sparky took the entrance in Perkins Cove, one end of the trail. She locked her bike at the wharf and then walked the seaside trail and back. 

It's right around a mile one way and there are a few ups and downs on the paved trail. 

You pass by stately homes on your left and the ocean constantly on your right. You might even pass by an artist on your walk.

Swimming in this part of Maine in the Atlantic Ocean is not for the faint of heart. Water temperature today was 68 degrees. You can't say you haven't been warned!

You also pass by several rocky cliff beaches that look amazing. Check out where the lifeguard sits for one of the beaches. Actually, there are a few swimmers off to her left, and to the right of her.

It would be difficult for a person in a wheelchair to navigate Marginal Way as parts of the path are extremely narrow and a little steep here and there, but it can be done. The scenery is fantastic.

Riding her way back through Ogunquit from the Marginal Way (no bikes allowed on the walkway), Sparky was passed by a twenty-something young man on a banana bike flying by. (Remember those?) He calls out to Sparky, "Let's get a movin', grandma!" as she is huffing and puffing up a hill in first gear. She grins and says, "I'm a workin' it. I'm a workin' it!" She gains momentum, he starts slowing down because his bike doesn't have any gears. By the time she gets to the top of the hill, she passes HIM by, really rollin' now, he's about dead in the water and had run out of steam and she calls out, "Time to pick up the pace there, dude!" She laughs as she flies by him, he laughs.....and off she goes....

By the way, there are TWENTY-SEVEN lighthouses in the downeast Maine region, the gold area on the map. That's home to more lighthouses than all of the rest of Maine combined. Lots of day trip possibilities if you come to downeast Maine. 

Our current location, Wells, Maine is 137 miles southwest of Acadia and is not considered to be in the Downeast Region, but there so many things to do and see in this area as well! We stayed in the coastal region of Maine all summer and just barely scratched the surface to capture all the beauty, the nature, the hikes, the shopping and dining- it's mind boggling! Not to mention the Amtrak to Boston trips under two hours if you want to take in a baseball game or visit all the cool historic sites in Boston. Wish we had been able to head way north, but no membership parks up there, just moose, maybe, and rustic campgrounds. For anyone wanting to see moose, you have to get farther north, think Baxter State Park area and Moosehead Lake, wa-a-a-y up north. Amazing nature of a different kind up in northern Maine--it's much less populated--lakes and forests, the Appalachian Trail, moose, and much much more.

And there you have it, folks....We are leaving Maine this week and headed west--Hershey, Pennsylvania, here we come! We will miss our nice friends who we have met during the summer for the second year in a row....Bob and Paula, and our friends that we met in Batesville, IN, are here...Donna and Ken. It's wonderful to know that when you are RVing, there's a very good chance you will see friends again that you've met down the road, and we do!

Thank you for following and reading along with us. We love sharing our travels! And Sparky likes writing the blog so she can remember stuff, because a year from now, she will say, "How long was that bike trail in Kennebunk?" Or, "What company did we book that lighthouse tour with?" Things like that....(She really means, "What is the name of that restaurant just down the street from the park that we liked so much for breakfast?" and "How long did it take to get to Joann Fabrics from Wells?" laughs Eldo.) Ummmm, yeah...OK.....guilty as charged...

See you down the road!

Painted Lady Butterfly in Kennebunk on the flowers