The River Runneth Over

As further adventures and more in tradition set by mom and dad in years past, my friend Spring brought up the idea to search for Apache Tears in the desert. The Jeep was aching for a little off road venture and the site was not located too far away. We began our day stuffing ourselves at The Cracker Barrel for breakfast. With stomachs full we set off on our journey. The destination was somewhere between the botanical garden and Superior, AZ. I missed the road the first time, had to turn around and nearly missed it the second time. Fortunate for me the holiday traffic was light and we finally reached the small dirt road off the highway that was to take us on our venture. Now, rarely in Arizona does water ever get in the way of such outings. It had however been raining for several straight days. We did not get far before we came upon the river believed to be Arnett Creek. While it wasn't huge, it was running swift enough and large enough I was not taking my chances. We parked the Jeep and hopped out, hoping to find a spot where we could cross somehow. We were probably a mile or two from really seeing some nice Apache Tears. It seemed the further we followed the river, the larger it got. I had to marvel as how few a times you really see a swift flowing river in those parts. I would have to guess that come summer time, that river bed is bone dry. Spring is a determined creature. When she sets her mind to something it takes a lot to talk her out of it. At one point we took our shoes and socks and rolled up our pants to wade across the river. With cold feet, I poked a stick into the deepest and swiftest part and found it would have been thigh deep. I wasn't going through it and finally it was enough to convince Spring that we were not going to be rock hounding any tears. We did try making damns to climb across the water, but the water just carried our logs down river. The river won this day, but it will be a future venture when the water no longer plays such a challenge. River 1. Girls 0.