Hello all family and friends this is the boys of B2B, coming to you this week from Payson, AZ! We started our trip with a late 7am wake up, packed the van, and headed to the 9am Men’s Stag AA meeting followed by a trip to FAC East. After pumping some iron, we headed out to Blue Ridge Reservoir for some fun in the sun. It being labor day we kind of had to deal with some crowds, but we were able to find a secluded spot with some large rocks for cliff jumping. Our more burly residents even found a large floating log and had an impromptu lumber jack competition.
We then headed to Houston Mesa Campground to set up for the night. After our tents were set up we cooked a pork stir fry group meal, which was delicious and then headed to bed. The next morning we had a leisurely start – a 7:30am wake up followed by coffee and grits for breakfast. We still had about an hour to kill so some of us played bones, spades, or cribbage before we headed out to hike.
This week we were hiking Horton Spring and due to permit limits we split into 2 groups. Team A hiked the entire 11 mile loop while Team B hiked an out and back section up to Horton Spring, about 8 miles total. I was with Team A and our hike was the longest day hike we have done since I’ve been at B2B and had about 1,000′ of elevation gain. Something must be working here, ’cause it really wasn’t that difficult!
We took in many views as we traversed over the rolling hills through several ecosystems. It started out looking very arid and dry then evolved into a lush forest before dumping us out on a beautiful natural spring that flowed from the hillside. After completing the hike, we piled back in the vans and drove up the road to an overlook to have ‘Sharing is Caring’ over family systems… good mem’s.
Afterward we headed back to camp to make dinner and have a B2B back country AA meeting. Unfortunately, the heavens opened up again…. and rained the meeting out. We did get to watch a pretty cool lightning storm, reminiscent of the 4th of July before turning in for the night.
The next morning we packed up and headed to a nearby Native American site called Montezuma’s Well. It was pretty cool actually! We got to see some ancient ruins held by several different Native American tribes. We then headed to a secluded spot to hold our backcountry AA meeting, during which our very own Resident A shared his experience, strength and hope with us. He crushed it!! Then we headed back o
Hunter house.
That’s all for this week! From the boys at B2B, we love you all and will c-ya next week!
