Fortunately no one is hurt, but unfortunately no one is able to get a good picture before the slippery serpent slithers off the trail in search of a more peaceful and secluded area. The snake is predominately black and later identified as either a Northern Pacific Rattlesnake (found throughout Arizona’s high country) or an Arizona Black Rattlesnake.

Lyndon, Dave, Megan, and Barry check out the scene
from this rocky outcropping just off the main trail.

From this vantage point at about 6,000 feet in elevation, we are treated to great views looking down the canyon, as we enjoy the cooling and refreshing breezes circulating around us.

Could there be a more perfect day for hiking?

This massive and very impressive rock slide lies just up the trail from our rocky vantage point in the previous picture, the first of several large rock slides that we will see on today’s hike.

We haven’t seen rock slides of this magnitude and scale since hiking to the top of Mt. Humphreys, which probably has the largest such slides to be found anywhere in Arizona.

One can’t help but wonder what it would be like to witness one of these huge rock slides – hopefully from a safe and distant location.

When this much rock decides to move on a slope this steep, it moves very fast and nothing stands in its way for very long. The ground rumbles and shakes under the pretenses of an earthquake, choking dust and debris fills the air, and the noise level must be equivalent to a thousand locomotives roaring through a deep canyon at full throttle.

Julia, Doug, Lyndon, Dave, Barry, and Megan gather at the base of one of several rockslides that spill over into the main trail and beyond.

Hiking over these rocks can be a bit challenging, but most of the Parker Creek Trail is much easier going, as it continues to ascend through the Sierra Anchas in a series of gentle switchbacks.

Near the top of the trail we encounter a makeshift memorial to an elderly hiker who somehow got separated from his companions and disappeared into the forest without a trace.

Roughly a half mile beyond the memorial marker the trail itself seems to melt into the forest and vanish in a sea of dead and dying trees, some the victim of a recent forest fire and many others victim to the highly destructive and ever- expanding pine bark beetle.

Unbelievably, on our hike back down from the top of the trail we have one more snake encounter – this time with a large gopher snake. We spot a sudden movement just off the right edge of the trail and expect to see a lizard or small animal scurrying for cover, only to be surprised with our second serpent sighting of the day. A surprised five-foot gopher snake is more frightened of us than we are of him, as he rushes for the safety and protection of his burrow under a large slab of sandstone at trail’s edge. We try to get a quick picture just for the record, but he is a bit too fast for us and beats a hasty retreat before we can release a single camera shutter to capture the moment.