Week Ten

January 17-23

We are hiking maniacs. No rest days, no breaks. Just go, go, go. And I love it! That’s what I’m out here for; to push my mind and body outside what’s comfortable and learn from it. The fact that I’ve actually found success in that endeavor is something I’ll never take for granted.

Week ten. Wow. Ten weeks of this craziness! Pinch me.

From the beginning of the week, mom and I felt the pressure of her all-too-quickly approaching flight home. What’s the practical response to such feelings? Pack in ALL the adventure! Here’s what we did:

Monday: Gila hike #2! This one started from Emory Pass again, heading in the opposite direction. Did we do that on purpose, hoping that the opposite face of the mountain would have less snow? You bet. Mountain women. What a treat to walk on dirt trails without snowdrifts and ice, ya know? We trekked up the mountain, stopping frequently to take in the views, climb rock formations, and snap pictures. The trail we took was 11 miles round trip, so we knew we wouldn’t do the whole thing. That set a different tone for our exploration of the area. Two-and-a-half miles and about a thousand feet of elevation gain felt like a good stopping place. Well, sorta. You see, there was a small peak just off the trail that looked just challenging enough to be taunting. You know we climbed it. Climb, selfie, enjoy the view, take some pictures of it, climb back down. Totally worth it. The hike back to the car was uneventful, the drive to camp easy, packing out of camp was flawless, and goodbyes to Gila National Forest reluctant. What a magical place. You should go check it out.

As we wove our way toward our next destination, the strangely shaped slag piles of the Chino Copper Mine came into view. Those amazingly square mountain-size heaps of repositioned earth are seriously bizarre-looking if you don’t know what you’re seeing. We, of course, had to stop and learn what was going on there. The rest of the drive was uneventful, except for the excitement of crossing into a new state! Howdy, Arizona! The Tucson area welcomed us to Catalina State Park with one of the best sunsets I’ve seen yet. And a shower. Our campground had showers. Hallelujah! We set up camp, made dinner, showered, and called it a day.

Tuesday: After a quick search on AllTrails (Love that app. You should download it. Highly recommend.) we set our sights on a lovely six-mile hike to the picturesque Romero Pools. It is rated as “moderate” on AllTrails but we’d just climbed that whole mountain in the snow at a much higher elevation so we had no doubt we could handle it. Yowza. That was a tough hike. The first mile was easy. Flat, clear, nicely formed trail. Delightful. It didn’t take long, however, to find the “moderate” park of the hike. Maybe it should have been rated as “difficult”? This trail was technical. When I say technical, I mean eyes glued to the trail, every step has to be made carefully because you’re walking up the face of a mountain and stumbling over the chips and crags and points that have formed since Noah’s flood. Difficult. And the ascent was crazy. All-in-all, this hike took us 1,614 feet above our starting elevation. Our legs hurt, sure. We were worn out from our Gila workouts and stiff from yesterday’s long drive, but we hardly noticed. (At least I hardly noticed. Speak for yourself, Abigail.) The entire slope of the mountain that we were climbing up was held in place by Saguaro cactuses. Like, the for-real, giant, quintessential southwest, crazy arms, giant spikes Saguaros. Do you know what they look like up close? Super cool. They look super cool. We were enamored. The shapes, the arms, the vivid colors, the mass, the height. I mean, I could have stood on mom’s head and still not been as tall as some of these giants. (Granted, our combined height is still pretty minimal.) At the end of the trail was a glistering reward: Romero Pools. A generously flowing series of pools and waterfalls tucked between the mountains. Stunning, peaceful, refreshing, cold. That mountain flow hits ya right in the chilly bone! It didn’t help that the sun got covered by a rain cloud after we’d cooled our toes off in the pool. Oh well! There’s nothing a good hike back down can’t warm up! We were sweating again by the time we reached the easy portion of the trail. The rain cloud turned out to be a gift as well, because the precipitation, in combination with the late-afternoon sun, caused a brilliant rainbow to arch over the plateau of saguaros. Mom and I stood in wide-eyed awe as the rainbow intensified then faded. I love the promise that the rainbow represents: compassion. And new beginnings.

What did we have for dinner? Those long-awaited burgers! We made the short drive to TruLand Burgers and Greens in Oro Valley and gobbled down those tasty patties (in a ladylike way, of course.) A simply fantastic day!

Wednesday morning saw us packing out of the lovely Catalina State Park, heading for an urban adventure day in Tucson. First stop: San Xavier del Bac Mission. This historic Catholic mission was founded in 1700 and the still-standing church was built shortly thereafter. The stunningly ornate altar and Hispanic-style paintings of angels and Bible stories combined to create a space that commanded reverence from all within. It was remarkable and humbling and memorable. At the gift shop next door, I bought myself a baby saguaro cactus. I think they are just the coolest so why wouldn’t I take this opportunity to bring one home with me? Maybe because they live for hundreds of years and take almost a hundred years to even mature to the point of flowering? Oh well. I now am the proud owner of a generational keepsake. I hope my great-great grandkids enjoy my saguaro!

The second stop of the day was the Presidio San Augustine del Tucson. The little museum, dedicated to the preservation of the history and artifacts of the historic presidio (that is, the fortress that preceded the city of Tucson) is definitely a hole in the wall. I’m not even sure how mom found it, but I’m very glad she did! The museum volunteers were very informative and attentive. We were the only people there for the majority of our visit, which allowed us a private tour with a very knowledgeable docent. The history of Tucson is long and rich. It was so cool to gain all that history info, then walk the surrounding streets of old Tucson. What a city! In our wanderings, we came to the historic Pima Courthouse, which boasts a lush courtyard and artful tiled roof. We simply marveled for a bit. We also stumbled upon a few other fascinating places as we roamed the city. I could have wandered all evening! However, the road was calling. We had to make it to our campground. Vamanos! Our campsite for the night: A BLM (Bureau of Land Management) dispersed camping area. Snyder Hill was not the most attractive place we’ve set up shop, but it was free, convenient, and available. The hill gave us a great sunset view and we enjoyed that as we looked forward to tomorrow’s adventures! Oh, and don’t forget the game of cribbage before bedtime!

Thursday: This morning’s breaking camp was kinda bitter-sweet. Wednesday into Thursday was our last night in the camper before mom heads home. Why do the best things end so quickly? With everything settled and the camper in tow, we headed just a couple of minutes north to Saguaro National Park. Oh boy, did the best day awaits us there! Our first stop, of course, was at the visitor’s center. Gotta get that info, ya know? It was at the visitor center that we learned about the extremely slow maturation of saguaros and that had us giggling all day about that tiny “Giant Saguaro” I’d purchased on Tuesday. So. Stinkin’. Funny.

We did a couple of short hikes and one longer, more challenging hike, inside the park. Our legs were yelling at us to please give them a break after the non-stop mountain climbing of the past week and a half. We decided to take it a little easier and finished up our Saguaro NP explorations at just under five miles. What I thought would be a pretty neat park with some pretty neat cactuses turned out to be a list-topper on my rankings of places visited. Those plants are amazing! And so dense in the park! And so old! And so beautiful! And so strange looking! And so unique! I loved Saguaro National Park. If you are in the central Arizona area, I hope you make the stop. I was exhausted but so not ready to leave. Creation is amazing, isn’t it? Wow.

After saying “see ya later” to the national park, mom and I drove to a suburb just north of Phoenix where our friends generously welcomed us into their home. The warm welcome, comfortable conversation, cozy home, and hot showers were a delight after two weeks of jackets and cold fingers. Don’t get me wrong, I love my camper and all that the outdoors can throw at me! But, this little change of pace and the lovely company was wonderfully restful.

Friday: A goodbye and hello day. While our friends generously made breakfast for us, mom and I made sure all her things were packed up and ready to fly. What an absolutely incredible two weeks we had on the road together. We made memories, tackled some amazing hikes, learned a ton, and filled the hours with conversation and laughter. Thank you for this moment of adventure, mom. I will always treasure it. Love you so!!

After a smooth drop-off at the airport, I made a quick coffee run while waiting for dad to arrive. The car needed some cleaning, so I did that too, and within an hour, the parent exchange was complete! Dad and I hit Whataburger before heading back to our friends’ home for another relaxing evening. A short desert walk and a steak dinner were on the agenda for the evening, as well as a ping-pong match between the guys and conversation around the patio fire. Totally, totally perfect!

Saturday: Adventure day #1 with dad! Woohoo! Destination: Sedona. Our first stop was at the Church of the Holy Cross, a beautiful chapel literally built into the red stone cliff. It was a reverent introduction to Sedona. And then… Oh boy did we have a tough time finding a place to camp. Yikes. Not my best work. I’d picked out a campground in advance but trusted my camping app too much. If I’d looked at the official website, I would have noticed that the place was closed for the winter. That might not have been such a problem except for the fact that all the campgrounds in the area, except for one tent-only spot, were either closed for the season or way outside my budget. We drove through Sedona hoping to find a spot. We failed. We drove back through Sedona, heading toward a campground other the other side of town. That was closed. After about an hour of searching and driving and turning around and calling places, we found a spot. A sort-of campground was available at the Sedona Elks lodge. There wasn’t a bathroom, there weren’t site numbers, there weren’t any other campers around. However, it was in-budget, it was open, and it was the one. In typical God-providing fashion, this strange campsite turned out to be absolutely perfect. It was within a half-hour drive of every hike I hoped to do in Sedona. Look at God! After setting up camp, dad and I drove to our first hike: The Airport Loop. It was an awesome place to take in the sunset, but maybe a bit longer than we expected. What we thought was going to be a 2-mile adventure turned into a nearly four-mile ordeal ending well after the sun had gone down. Thankfully, dad had prepared for darkness and saved the day with his headlamp. I’ve got a pretty serious fear of the outdoors after dark, so my heart and feet were racing. We were able to laugh about the non-existent peril after we were back in the car, and our dinner of soup and sandwiches fixed the remainder of the stress.

Sunday: I had a lot of things on my Sedona bucket list, so we had to get to it. The first hike of the day was to the Birthing Cave. Yeah, I know. That’s a weird name. I agree. But the cave itself is not weird or lame or anything aside from magical. This wind-carved cave is a popular spot in the Sedona hiking zone. It is a cavern carved into the side of the cliff, not much unlike the cavates at Bandelier, only super-sized. Dad and I climbed up the steep trail to the gaping cave and stood comfortably inside with a dozen other people. Up the cave wall from the floor is a small bowl that fits only one person. From there, one can see how the cave gets its name. At first, I wasn’t going to climb up to the bowl because it looked difficult and risky. Well, I stayed in that cave for long enough and watched too many other people Spider-Man their way up there. I had to do it. With my hiking boots and socks off, it turned out to merely be a balancing game, but nothing too risky. I was, of course, pretty proud of myself for making it up there, and thrilled by the perspective that being inside the inside of the cave gave. But don’t take my word for it. You should go check it out for yourself!

We finished that hike with less than 4 miles traveled, so we had plenty of gas left in our tanks. We drove around for a bit, admiring the majesty of the enormous red cliffs, before pulling over to eat our PB&Js with a view. It just so happened that the spot we picked for our lunch break was the trailhead for a popular hike. This one wasn’t on my list, but from what we could see, the canyon was amazing. Ah, what the heck, let’s go for it! I am so glad we did! The Fay Canyon Trail did not disappoint. Like, at all. The main trail hike was unreal. Vivid red cliffs rising several hundred feet on both sides. All sorts of beautiful desert vegetation, and just a few other hikers, despite the popularity of the trail and the perfect hiking weather, added to the dreamy experience. The trail terminated at the split of the canyon. To both sides of the jutting formation in front of us, the canyon continued. I climbed up to get a better view of where we’d come from and sat to take it in. Above the tops of the trees, the giant cliffs and endless vista beyond the trailhead were visible and breathtaking. Before climbing down, I just had to take a peek down the trail that led deeper into the canyon. Then I had to go further. Then a little further. What if there was something amazing back there that I was about to miss, ya know?

While I didn’t find some spectacular hidden cave or a way to climb up the canyon wall, I was astounded by the color. As the walls grew closer together toward the narrowest part of the canyon, the sunlight caused the rich tones of the walls to reflect across, creating a warm color intensity that I could almost feel. Pure magic. Back out on the main trail with dad, the adventure continued into the other canyon. We ventured about half a mile up a dry creek before heading back toward the trailhead. Along the way, we took a spur trail toward The Fay Trail Arch. That’s probably pretty cool. Uh yeah, it's pretty cool! It was a heck of a climb to reach the arch and poor dad, who hasn’t been hiking his butt off at high elevations for the past two weeks (as I have) gave it just about everything he had left in the tank. I’m so thankful we made it up there. It was worth the climb, worth the close call with those prickly pears, worth the scramble on all fours. Worth it. That arch was like another world. The sound vibrated differently between the cliff wall and the arch. The shape of it perfectly framed the scenery on the other side of the canyon. I climbed up between the arch and the wall to get a better look. I took a million pictures. It was amazing. When we arrived back at the trailhead, we were spent. We took in the sunset from an easy-to-get-to vista and then headed back to the camper.

Week ten. Boom. I think I saw more of the country in this one week than any week before. So much of the best of what New Mexico and Arizona have to offer. As I think back on all of these crazy weeks, I’m in awe of the vast and varied beauty of these few states I’ve explored. Truly spectacular. I hope all these words inspire you to go find something new, get your hiking boots dirty, and use up everything your leg muscles have to offer. You’ll be so glad you did.