From: How was your month for Free Range
It has been a while since I have been out naked hiking or hanging about here. The past few days, I’ve been trying to catch up with what has transpired here and ran across Jbee’s mention that I had “family matters”. When I get caught up in things that I think are important, occasionally life will stand up in front of me and gently swat me across the head to get my attention. Family matters more than routine busywork.
As was mentioned, we’ve had family issues (of several kind) the past couple years. I’ve not been keeping up on other things also. I haven’t made any BEER since March of ’17 and have had to subsist on store bought brew. Other priorities have asserted themselves. During the same period I hadn’t been on one of my naked hikes for over a year. But things seem to be settling down a bit.
- In May of last year we spent 3 nights in Chaco Canyon and 2 nights at Grand Canyon. Wonderful
- camping and hiking, but no naked hiking.
- Last year on my way back from Denver, I stopped for a couple hours at OLT. That one event was it for
- naked hiking since late 2017, over 1 year and a half. So this year, trying to get back in the swing, I
- have been on 4 hikes since early May.
As a result of being out of shape and out of touch with the desert I decided to pick up where I left off. Last desert hike was in Nov. of ’17 out near Lake Mead. With the summer heat already here I have to leave early. It can be 100° by 10:00 am.
In early May I took off for a desert hike. Since this was my 1st naked hike in over a year. I chose to not overdo it and walked in on about a 1.5 mile hike. Stayed on the upper end of the valley and did some bouldering. A nice and enjoyable hike.
3 weeks later I went back out to the same area for another outing. I walked about 2-1/2 miles into the valley and picked a spot to relax for a bit and enjoy the day. Walked back out for a 5 mile hike. It’s a gradual climb out except for one spot where the grade is about 13% for about 300 ft. My lack of endurance had me huffing and puffing at the top. The last 3/4 mile was an easy flat walk.
Awhile back, after a couple annoying incidents, I started putting everything from my pockets in the pack so I wouldn’t lose it. When I got back to the car I do what I normally do, pull all my keys, billfold, phone etc. out of my back pack for the trip home. In the process I discovered that my phone was missing. Errmm!
Somewhere on the trail, on the 2-1/2 miles back to my car I lost my phone. I walked back in to the top of the hill, but didn’t find it. The temperature was climbing so I headed back to the car and went home. Which prompted a return trip the next day. Mrs.E and I left early and went back to look for the wayward phone. When we got there another car was parked at the trailhead. I wasn’t sure we would be alone on the trail so I stayed dressed. Turned out I missed an opportunity as we didn’t run into anyone and the car was gone when we got back.
We found the escapee but the circumstances were odd. Usually I carry my GPS when I hike, just for information purposes. On these hikes I’m not where I can get lost, I just enjoy checking out the information on the hike. Well, the day I lost the phone I also had the GPS. At about the 1-1/2 mile mark I normally take a left turn off the trail into a wash to walk down into the valley. That was what I had done the day before. Coming back out, I rejoin the trail at the same spot.
We found the phone on the trail shortly after the turnoff. When we got home I downloaded the hikes off my GPS and was looking at the two day’s hikes. You could see the locations. How could my phone have ended up 100 ft. or so, south of where I turned off the trail. Weird, no? As John Lennon said, strange days indeed.
The day I was there with my wife, she, not knowing my routine, walked about 100 ft. past my normal turnoff. She walked up a slight hill and found my phone right in the middle of the trail. Curious. The day before, I had left the trail earlier, 100 ft. back up the trail. In all the times I have been there I have seen someone on the trail once but at a distance and only once had anyone come in behind me. But they didn’t hike into the valley. This is a trail that is seldom used.
How did the phone end up on a part of the trail I hadn’t been on? Curiouser. I now leave my phone in the car on my hikes. There is no cell reception out there anyway and it’s that much less I have to carry.
On father’s day I went out for an early morning walk of a couple miles. A solitary and silent hike.
10 days later I went out to a trail I hadn’t been on in over two years. Boy, things happen! I saw major changes in the wash. The bed was very rough with larger rocks and stones scattered all over. Very little sand or silt. A large 4’ high and about 6’ across boulder, that hadn’t been there before, was laying in the wash.
On my way in I was looking up ahead to find my landmark cottonwood trees. I didn’t see them. They were gone! There had been a stand of 3-4 25’-30’ cottonwood trees in the middle of the wash about 30’ downstream of a 10-12’ high pour-over. One of them was still there but had been uprooted and was laying on the ground. The others were piled up in a jumble about 150 yds. downstream. Clear evidence of a major flood in the wash. Would have been fun to watch. From a safe spot.
The desert changes, but very slowly. The exception is the monsoon season. We get about 4-1/4 in. of rain a year. So far this year we are over that amount. Yes we have a monsoon season but it’s not like in other places. It’s just a period when we get the majority of our rain for the year. When it rains that much in a short period, changes happen fast. The soil is packed and doesn’t absorb water very well. Most of it runs off into the wash. I’ve never witnessed a flood out there but gave seen the evidence of them afterward. It’s a reminder that nature can be as deadly as it is beautiful.
The area around those cottonwoods was one of the few true shady spots out there, and it was at a good place to stop and rest. Alas, no more. I wasn’t disappointed though as the desert provides a excellent reminder of why I so enjoy this activity. Being somewhat out of shape was taking away from the hike as occasionally I needed to do a little climbing but it wasn’t too bad. The quiet and warming landscape was relaxing as I stopped to catch my breath occasionally.
Small lizards scatter as I walk. It’s so quiet you can hear them as they run. They move so fast! The last time I was in this area I was amazed at the number of ant hills I saw. They were everywhere. They still seemed to be all over the place long columns of ants marching one-by-one.
The HOT is coming and it’s necessary to get out earlier and earlier just to avoid it. But at least I’m back in it. Watching and waiting for cooler (relatively speaking) days to take advantage of.
Duane