On a partly cloudy day in mid-July, fifteen Arizona Trailblazers gather around the now smooth trunk of a long-fallen ponderosa pine, one of many downed trees we will have to go over, under, or around on today’s hike in Pivot Rock Canyon. The time is 10:00 AM, and the temperature stands at a pleasant 80 degrees as we strike out from the trailhead, at 6,787 feet in elevation, in search of our quarry. On a hike in this area about fifteen years earlier, Cyd had discovered and photographed a remarkable face-in-the-rock profile somewhere in Pivot Rock Canyon or one of its smaller side canyons. And she has not seen it since then.

Despite at least four previous hikes and searches throughout the area, the elusive face-in-the-rock continues to evade us. With Cyd on today’s hike, along with her new insights and hunches on the rock’s probable location, we are sure to locate it this time. In fact, I am so confident today that I boldly offer to buy a beer for the first person to sight the real rock face (or in the case of one of our hikers, her favorite drink – a club soda and cranberry juice instead of a beer). And I fully expect to make good on that offer. With 15 pairs of eagle-sharp Trailblazer’s eyes sweeping and probing these canyon walls, how can we possibly go wrong?

During our usual round of introductions, instead of telling what our last hike was, I ask everyone to tell the group what their all-time favorite hike was, regardless of whether or not it was in Arizona or even in this country. Some of the more notable ones I can recall are the North Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon, from the North Rim all the way down to the Colorado River (naturally, since this is my favorite hike), Thunder River in the Grand Canyon (the world’s shortest river – two votes for this one), Toroweap Overlook on the North Rim down to the Colorado River (one of the steepest and most treacherous trails in the Grand Canyon), Havasu Falls (usually on the Top Ten list of Arizona’s greatest hikes), Aravaipa Canyon (excellent choice Cyd), Camelback Mountain (one of the most popular hikes in the Phoenix Mountain Preserves), New Zealand’s Milford Track (usually on the Top Ten list of the world’s greatest hikes), the Coastal Trail in Washington State, and Bill’s unique choice “A new one I have not done yet.” And the overall winner is – not surprisingly, Arizona’s Grand Canyon, a World Heritage Site, one of the Top Ten Wonders of the World, and the destination of over five million visitors from around the world annually. Is it any wonder that Arizona is officially known as The Grand Canyon State?

In lead position, Anikó and Eileen follow two cows and a small calf on the trail, carefully watching where they place their feet to avoid stepping into numerous fresh cow patties (note the two ripe piles just to their left) all along the trail. Since this area is open range and has been for many years, we have always shared parts of the trail with cattle on previous hikes. But I don’t believe any of us have ever seen so much cow poop on the trails, the roads, or even down in the canyons before.

If someone could figure out how to easily collect and process all of this manure, I believe a tidy profit could be turned. Anyone up for the task?

I’m just hoping no one slips on one of these cow pies and takes a nasty fall – or worse yet, lands smack dab in the middle of a fresh pie. In that case we may have to throw the unlucky person in the creek for a quick scrub-down or tie them onto one of the vehicle roof racks for the drive back home. Meanwhile, getting back to our little calf, it seems to be calling for its mother, who we believe may be behind the rest of our group. So at one point 15 Trailblazers step off the trail to give the cattle right of way and the unhappy calf a chance to rejoin its mother. But it never turns back and doggedly continues to follow the two cows ahead of it, bellowing its displeasure along the way.

The hiking is easy for a while, as we follow an abandoned road and then maneuver through large swaths of open forest, but then gradually gets tougher and more aggressive as Cyd and Bushwhack Bill decide on our next course of action in search of the infamous rock and put us on a path that leads up and down through steep canyon country and through nearly impenetrable stretches of thick jungle-like growth that seriously begs for the use of machetes to hack our way through the bush. Lush, waist-high Bracken ferns and other shrubby plants grow denser as we continue to push and bulldoze our way through the undergrowth. I start having flashbacks from one of Ted Tenny’s more infamous bushwhackers from a number of years ago. We were pushing and shoving our way through massive thickets of Manzanita, so dense it was impossible to fall down since the brush would catch or snag you before you could hit the ground. That is some serious bushwhacking, even for Ted. Now why didn’t I think to bring my machete today?

We push on, determined more than ever to find the elusive face-in-the-rock. From time to time it looks promising as we compare Cyd’s picture to our surroundings and discover other would-be rock faces, but we still continue to come up short of the genuine article and no other rock face will suffice.

Then we come across the sun-bleached bones of a large elk, with a nearly intact skull. We’ll let the next three pictures speak for themselves, but Rudy offers an interesting insight here. It seems that the last molar (in the back) on both sides of an elk’s upper jaw is pure ivory, while the rest of the teeth are normal enamel. And the elk is unique in this respect, since no other animal in the deer family (Cervidae) shares this characteristic. Amazing what we learn on these Arizona Trailblazers hikes.

After nearly two hours of hiking and bushwhacking, we find a shady spot among the pines and break for lunch.

After lunch Bill solemnly removes his cherished Bucky II T-shirt and opens bidding for shreds of Bucky II to raise money for the Arizona Trailblazers. I start the bidding process at six cents and Rudy raises my bid with two tamales and a taco. Unfortunately, no one else bids anything higher so the bidding process ceases on the grounds of silliness and frivolity and Bill decides to consign the remains of Bucky II to Pivot Rock Canyon at our lunch site.

So Rudy loans Bill his small pick hammer and Bill begins to dig a shallow grave for Bucky, as Rudy reads a short prayer. He immediately runs into hard rock but steadily picks away until he finally has a hole deep enough to comfortably accommodate Bucky. Bill then reverently tucks Bucky into the hole and gently covers him with earth and a few large rocks to discourage animals from digging up the carcass. Finally, Bill plants a makeshift cross on the site and tops it with part of the elk remains as an appropriate gesture. We all bow our heads and say a few silent words for Bucky II. Hey, no giggling or snickering please! This is serious stuff, people!

May you rest in peace Bucky, at least until the next flash flood washes you downstream to another resting place. Next, Bill pulls a brand new identical T-shirt from his backpack and immediately christens it Bucky III. Lunch finished and Bucky II consigned to Mother Earth, we gather our gear and hit the trail once again, as we continue our search for Cyd’s by now legendary face-in-the-rock.

At one point on the hike, sometime after lunch, one of our hikers suddenly announces she has discovered the face-in-the-rock. Could it really be true this time? We have already seen a couple of rock formations that some would say resemble a face, although that is certainly debatable for some of us.

But we are now in a side canyon that Cyd feels certain is the location where she found the original rock face all those years earlier. We compare her picture once again to the rock structures around us and note the similarities in the formations and the correct layering and striations in the rock and both agree this place definitely looks promising. So we hurry on over to the sighting and are disappointed, once again, to see this is not the rock face we are looking for. In fact, it doesn’t look much like a face-in-the-rock at all. We continue searching.

Eventually we come to a forest road, and the group decides to split up here. Michael takes five others with him, all anxious to get back to the trailhead as soon as possible, while the rest of us head for Pivot Rock Spring, a little under a mile up the trail. Most of this trail to the spring is under heavy forest cover with towering ponderosa pine, scattered oak, a few aspen, and a dense carpet of lush Bracken fern marking the way and providing cool shade and an almost rainforest-like setting. My camera bag thermometer, which had earlier registered as high as 88 degrees along the sunnier stretches of trail, is now sitting at a steady and comfortable 75 degrees. A cooling breeze blowing through the forest canopy cools us down even more.

Mushroom Rock. [photo by Chuck]

And Pivot Rock Spring is no exception. It is essentially a small shallow cave or alcove with cold water seeping across its rocky floor and then emptying into a two-inch diameter, concrete-embedded iron pipe which slowly drains its contents onto more rocks on the opposite side. But still it offers cool relief and a place of refuge from the heat as we sit in front of the cave opening at an elevation of about 7,400 feet for one last group picture. The constant flow of air coming from the cave entrance must be in the low 60s, so this would be the place of choice for overheated hikers on a really hot summer day.

Well, we gave it our best shot today and it certainly seemed promising for a while, but Pivot Rock Canyon Trip # 5 still comes up short and the mysterious and elusive face-in-the-rock continues to mock and elude us. In fact, The Rock is probably eyeing us at this very moment, wondering with amusement and curiosity just who these strange beings are that dare to invade its territory and disturb its tranquil setting, as we silently make our way out of the canyon and back to the trailhead. It’s almost 3:00 PM by the time we all return to Pivot Rock Trailhead and our vehicles. According to Bill’s GPS, those of us who trekked to the spring hiked a total of 5.3 miles with +/-670 feet of total elevation change.

We clean up a bit, put our gear away, and break out a few cold drinks, as we discuss the day’s hike. Our next big decision is where to go for dinner. Normally we wind up at the same Mexican restaurant in Payson, but Michael suggests Thai food this time and mentions a great Thai restaurant east on Highway 260 across from the Safeway Plaza in Payson.

Soon we all arrive at the Ayothaya Thai Café, eager to sample some great Thai cuisine. Cyd warns us there is really bad Thai food and then excellent Thai food.

After our meals come out and we start eating, I believe we can all agree this place definitely falls into the latter category. Absolutely the best Thai food I have ever eaten, and we will be coming back to the Ayothaya Café soon. Dinner over, we all say our goodbyes to one another, pile back into our vehicles, and head back down the long and winding road for home.