Comfort Inn - Peoria, Arizona

The coronavirus has presented me with some new challenges. It's difficult to shelter in place when you have a job at Walmart, and live out of your Honda CRV. However, I had a day off work last Wednesday, and since hotel rates have plummeted I got a room for the night near my job. So I spent 20 hours isolated in my hotel room with popcorn, a frozen dinner, and plenty of Diet Pepsi. I watched the news all evening, and the one thing I don't miss is having no TV. However, it sure was nice to have a large comfortable bed.

The coronavirus hasn't made my OCD worse. I don't have anxiety over rational problems. It's the irrational obsessions that haunt me daily. Although, those are easier for me to handle in Arizona because of all the sunshine and wilderness. 

Skyline Regional Park - Buckeye, Arizona

Skyline Regional Park is an 8,700 acre mountain preserve located in the southern White Tank Mountains.

Me

Campsite - Peoria, AZ

The last few nights I have been camping here at 87th and N Roadrunner Way near Lake Pleasant. It has been raining off and on since Tuesday with periodic thunderstorms. Last night, I enjoyed a good sleep among the lightening and pouring rain. I love the sound of rain on my car. It's relaxing. However, I'm getting tired of all rain in the Sonoran Desert, it makes me depressed in the morning. Although it is going to bring an incredible display of spring flowers in the desert very soon. Nevertheless, I get up early and get moving. It does me no good to lie in my car and think about my OCD.

Marcus Landslide Trail - McDowell Sonoran Preserve

I decided to do a long but easy trail since last weeks hike was extraordinarily tough. It was a sunny day, but as usual I felt depressed in the morning, and I needed to get out on the trail, but I also had to do laundry and go to REI and buy new hiking boots. So I walked this gently sloping 6.6 mile loop through the low desert. I began my hike on the Marcus Landslide Trail, then connected to the Boulder Trail, then to Pemberton Trail, and finally followed Rock Knob Trail back to my car. After 3.5 hours I felt much better. The trail refreshes my mind.

I've been working about 28 hours a week at Walmart, and that's cutting into my hiking time, but I need money coming in. If I wasn't working I would be depressed too because of a lack of income. I'm also getting bored of Peoria, Arizona. I easily get bored. Generally speaking, I like to move around a lot and live in different Arizona towns. By June it will be too hot to sleep in my car in the Valley, and every day now I am looking for a new job at a higher elevation. A job also keeps my mind off my OCD, even if it is Walmart.

I brought my tripod with.

The Marcus Landslide

Rock Knob Trail

Rock Knob Trail

Upper LaBarge Box Canyon - Superstition Mountains

This was a very difficult hike to the box canyon, and around Battleship Mountain. The hardest section is the 1.5 miles off-trail in LaBarge Canyon. It took me nearly 2 hours of bush whacking, and boulder hopping across the creek to navigate this beautiful canyon. At the end you are rewarded with the narrows where soaring stone walls rise straight to the sky. The entire hike was 9.5 miles, and it took me about 8 hours.

Whenever I have a day off from working at Walmart, I'm out hiking. It makes me feel good. It's my medicine for the mind and body. The trail clears my mind of OCD, and I also have type 2 diabetes so hiking keeps my blood sugar normal.

LaBarge Canyon

LaBarge Canyon

LaBarge Canyon

LaBarge Canyon

LaBarge Canyon

LaBarge Canyon

LaBarge Canyon

I brought my tripod with. This is the box canyon.

LaBarge Canyon

LaBarge Canyon

Boulder Canyon