Cottonwood Creek hike and more

 We put in some miles on Friday.  We went down to the yard and walked the bike path up a little arroyo and got in about 3 miles.  Then later that afternoon we drove up Cottonwood Road and then hiked about 6 more miles down/back Cottonwood Creek canyon there.  It was such a beautiful day!  We were kind of dumb and didn't take any water, but the hike was mostly in the shade because of the high canyon walls, so that saved us from being very thirsty.  We could have stopped and turned back sooner, but we had a bad case of let's see what's around that next corner.  We had hoped to hike to where the canyon walls end, but didn't quite make it.  We actually hiked out faster than we came down.  We did less sight seeing and rock collecting then because we wanted to get back and get a drink.  This creek should have been running cold water from melting snow, but we didn't see any water.  There was some dampness here and there left from the last big rain.  It was a perfect spring day, too early in the year, but we loved it for what it was. We stopped for a snack as we drove out and enjoyed the peace and beauty there.