Our first hiking day of our trip, since we have been restricted due to Brenda's foot accident before we left home. After checking out the maps of the area, we decided to take a 4.1 mile (6.6 km) hike to the old Victoria Mine Site, situated to the south of the Twin Peaks campground. The weather is getting hot, our plan is to complete the hike by 12 noon. We signed the visitor log at 9:04 AM, and headed out on the rough rocky trail (Baxter stayed home to guard the motorhome). There were numerous small ravines and washes to traverse, and the variety of cactus and other plants was surprising. Lots of saguaro, organ pipe, ocotillo, prickly pear and cholla cactus, with many creosote bushes mixed between. There were a few birds but not as many as we had expected, but as the morning wore on we noticed more small lizards scurrying in front of us on the trail. The trail is actually very well maintained, with the path through a few of the steeper ravines aided by large stone steps - obviously human placed, but very welcome for the novice hikers that we are.
The 2 plus miles out seemed to take a long time, and it seemed that much longer coming back. We were thankful that we didn't choose one of the longer hikes. As suggested we took lots of water, and we drank most of it by the end of the trip. In the future these hikes would be better with loose fitting clothing, a straw hat (Brenda!!), and a couple of small backpacks to carry the water. The shoulder bag used for the extra laptop was the best we could come up with instead of a backpack.
We were back to the campground by noon - as planned, and a seat in the meager shade of our campsite was welcome.
One of the "features" of the campground is that it has nice clean washrooms - complete with solar heated showers. It seemed like a great idea to freshen up with a shower after the morning hike in the growing heat. Apparently not, as the solar heat part of the shower was "shockingly" missing for Brenda. Having your breath taken away during a strenuous hike in the heat is one thing, but having your breath taken away by an ice cold shower is a totally different experience.
