Dankworth State Pond

My blog post about Salt River Canyon bisecting the Fort Apache and San Carlos reservations was first place I stopped to explore in the morning.

To break up my very long drive from Marlene’s place in Show Low, to my cousin David’s place in Hereford, I strategically planned to stop along the way and find a trail to hike and eat lunch. After driving through the Fort Apache Reservation, then the San Carlos Reservation, it looked like a good place to stop might be at Stafford, Arizona. Stafford is at a highway junction and a focal point of several tiny Arizona towns, and I expected to find a visitor information center of some kind. I found the Graham County Chamber of Commerce and spend quality time with a staff member who gave me all kinds of information and suggested several places to visit, with Dankworth State Pond near the top of her list.

Dankworth State Pond was directly on my route, which made it especially appealing.

View from the bench where I stopped to eat.

I was hungry when I arrived, so I looked for a place to sit. There was a lovely family there, of a dad and three kids, all of them fishing from the shore. There was a man and his dog sitting on a raft out in the water, also fishing. Otherwise the place was empty and warm and quiet and lovely. I sat and ate some of the delicious food that Bill and Miki had sent me off with when I left their home in Scottsdale.

This American Coot was not bothered by me, and swam back and forth in front of me while I ate.

Soon I was satiated, and eager to hike the short trail. Before I arrived, I did not know there were ruins to see here from local Natives who used to live here. Soon I was walking in only a T-shirt in the lovely warm weather that I had not felt for months in Oregon.

Along the route are these informational boards that educated me about the desert I walked in.

The sun dropped very close to the ridgeline, and lit up little puffballs on this bush beside the trail.

It felt wonderful to get out of the car and walk around after so many hours of driving the day before and that morning, and knowing I had hours more to go. The trail lifted in elevation and that felt even better. The 1 1/2 mile loop trail is short but just the perfect length and 100 foot (30 m) elevation gain to get one’s heartbeat up.

My excitement was dampened when I arrived at Dankworth Village and found it gated and locked.

Though I could not get close to any of the structures, I walked around the outside of the fence and was able to spot a couple of them through the brush.

Without access to the Native history, my favourite part of this hike was the view from the top of the hill.

I continued the loop back down the hill and back toward the lake. I discovered right away that while I was up on top of the rise, the sun had dropped so far behind the mountains that the valley was all in shadow.

I was pleased to see patches of greenery, even though I was hiking in the middle of winter.

The trail came out here, and the sun was still shining on the mountains facing south.

At the lakeside, I spotted many tracks. There had been a recent snowstorm that made mud out of all the lakeside trails. Though it was dry when I stood there, the tracks were a lot of fun to explore. I spotted dog, of course, but lots of raccoon. In the image below with only two tracks, the one one the left is a big dog track, but I think the one on the right is a bobcat track.

A closer shot of the place where the sun still shines. That should be the name of those mountains, ha ha.

I continued to circle around Dankworth Pond to finish my loop and return to the parking lot.

I felt rejuvenated and inspired to get my butt down the road. I messaged my cousin and said I was full and was not expecting to eat when I arrived. I decided to just make good time on the road but got distracted with a gorgeous sunset that I already showed you in a previous post about all my great friends.