Lazarow World-Hike-About: 53.04 Arizona: Roosevelt, Tonto National Forest: Moved by these 'spicy' photographs along the Salt River.

LAZAROW WORLD HIKE-ABOUT

San Ramon: At first, I thought it needed explanation. Not true. Top Left: "You're kidding me. After hiking 4 miles from the base below, you still want to climb up there...and snakes...?" The stance revealed it all. The rest is self-explanatory, too. (Not part of the formal trail either).

'LAZAROW WORLD HIKE-ABOUT: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HIKE-ABOUT?'

Hike-about is an adventure that commenced June 2010. After storing our household movables, ridding ourselves of a house but retaining our 'home' together, we set off with the purpose of hiking in different parts of the world, not forgetting the home country, the USA.

Our primary focus is hiking to mountain peaks but any challenging hike will do just fine. Extended stays enable us to enjoy and experience living in various places amongst differing cultures. Hike-about has evolved into a way of life. It's also a process of discovery, both the world and ourselves.

We work and live 'on the road' but return to the city in which our grandchildren reside, every couple of months. This provides us the wonderful opportunity to be with them as well as a child or two, even three and of course, friends.

By the end of 2023, the blog contained over 1,560 hikes (less than that actually undertaken), each a set of pictures with stories and anecdotes from the trails. An index to the right allows the viewer to identify earlier experiences.

Finally, we are often asked about the journey's end. Our reply, as accurate as we can state, is: "When we are either forced to cease through health issues or the enjoyment level no longer reaches our aspirations, we will hang up the boots."

"A Life Experience As No Other: Dare to Seize the Day Together", published by Fulton Books, depicts our life on the road and mountains until the beginning of 2017. It has developed 'exponentially' since then.

Jenni and Jeffrey Lazarow

Whereas we continue to update the blog regularly, we circulate email notifications infrequently.

Thursday, February 24, 2022

53.04 Arizona: Roosevelt, Tonto National Forest: Moved by these 'spicy' photographs along the Salt River.

We were moved by the sights of the day, particularly some of the scenes photographed, and included in this posting. We hope you grasp what we enjoyed, understanding that tastes differ—we have been called some strange names. Funnily enough, many we liked but then again there's no accounting for taste.

It also struck us that some of these scenes would be something to which Doug Morton, a professional photographer in South Africa, might relate. Not that we intimate this regarding the quality but rather, only the subject matter.

A double or an intimate couple?

For perspective: From the Vineyard hike (to be published) looking down at the Salt River.

Jen stands below the photographer amongst the scrub.

The most 'arms' we've ever seen on a saguaro.

This was our third visit to Tonto National Forest, specifically, to the Roosevelt Lake region. We’ve also visited the Superstition Mountains, some distance from the lake, always ensuring not being there on a particular Friday. We’re boarding in what is termed a resort, which comprises, cabins, motel type of rooms and a permanent RV park. We overlook a small lake which is the home of mostly ducks and geese. While the water does not lap up to our sliding door onto the patio, it’s close. Over the years, Jenni often laughed at me as I observe and try to shoot the bird life, visually, of course. While I’d love to enjoy visits from raptors, it seems only the ducks/geese occupy this habitat.

We have a big room which is spacious and comfortable. We believe the region is gorgeous because of its seclusion, the incredible Roosevelt Lake and Dam, the Salt River, wonderful mountains, all creating hiking opportunities to enjoy this wilderness. Naturally, we’d recommend a visit to the forest highly. However, should you seek luxury (and hot water) then we might withdraw the recommendation.

I’ve been a bit put off by a certain class of geese that reside here permanently. It’s a group of eleven further broken down into five, four and two. The latter couple are probably recently married as they are aloof from the group. Anyway, the birds, particular one fella, is aggressive. Like most animals, people too, the geese are always on the lookout for a snack or meal. So much so that this fella arrives at our sliding door and pecks the glass with his beak vigorously. He has no shame and will keep knocking. He is, like most people I know, not the least bit intimidated by me. At 5am the other morning, he arrived begging once again. Admittedly, its normal routine is to visit when he sees us in the room. That I’ve taken to hiding under the bed in daylight when we are not in the wilderness says a lot about both me and the 'bloody' duck. Between you and me, I don't like the anser at all.

We noticed that at night they congregate in a circle, tuck their heads into their sides and look like snow 'turkeys' on a Thanksgiving table or even better, a football huddle. This includes the married couple, too. Invariably, one will break out in a squawk and the other ten will respond, probably telling it to 'shut-up' which results in an awful disturbance of the peace. It's tough being a human in such an environment.

I will add that I’ve taken a stand in principle about not feeding them. Over the years, we have observed that when people feed animals, understandably out of compassion in most instances, it harms the creature. That’s not a lesson for now. Having said that, we recently fed a couple of wild horses in Natal—a little hypocritical, we’ll admit. Long story short: The noise these birds generate each day and night, the droppings they leave on our doorstep, and their aggressive begging have changed my outlook (not gmail) a little. I’m beginning to think Jen was correct all along about me and my birds. (See end).

Desert type of plant that does not require much water. Must be a 'freak' or at least, tempting.