Reckless
Terence almost never has my birthday off.
It is one of those facts of life as a cop spouse that I got used to ages ago. However, by some miracle he managed to get my last birthday off (I think it fell on his regular day off and for once they weren't requiring all the officers to work anyway). So Terence told me that whatever I wanted to do, he would go along with it. Since usually I sit at home on my birthday and work on a puzzle, this was awesome news, and I decided not to waste it.
By going on a very long hike!
(Isn't that what most people do for their birthdays? Or New Year's Eve?)
The greater Phoenix area has a system of "parks" that are pretty much desert hills with trails to hike and bike and ride horses on. I have an annual pass, and I drag the kids out all the time (at least during the cooler months). But there is one trail at our closest park that I have never taken them on. It is quite long, and a long stretch of it is in a sandy wash. I've never wanted to deal with the complaints-- or having to carry K or S should it prove too long. But I could tell from my long runs and occasional bike rides in the back direction of the park that this particular trail would have beautiful views. So I convinced Terence to do it with me.
Now on my birthday the weather gods decided Phoenix was due for rain-- lots of it. Not the downpours of monsoon season, mind, but a steady, ongoing drizzle. Terence said he was still willing to go hiking (and I optimistically thought the rain was ending) so we loaded up and headed out to the park even though things were already quite wet.
We weren't completely stupid about it. We wore hats and warm coats and gloves. We packed plenty of water and some snacks. Terence even stuck in a couple of flashlights and a headlamp, even though the plan was to finish long before dark. It was kind of empty when we arrived, but the guy at the front gate wished us a fun hike in the rain, so obviously it wasn't too odd to go hiking in such weather.
It started out fine at first. I have hiked every trail at this park multiple times with the exception of the stretch (the Malpais trail) that we were planning to tackle. So I didn't grab a map. I didn't think I'd need one. Ah, the arrogance. Well, now I know better.
We headed out into the drizzle in the early afternoon. It was fun to hike next to Terence with the rain dripping off my hat brim-- the trail wasn't too muddy and we even saw a mountain biker or two. The first two miles were very familiar territory, even for Terence. We have run this trail together as well as biked it. But soon after we got to the Malpais turn off. Here I got really excited, even though the drizzle was turning into rain. New territory!! We turned off, and soon found ourselves in the wash. It was actually easier going than the trail-- the sand absorbed the water, firming up, without being slippery like the muddy dirt trails.
It was breathtaking back there! The cliffs that rise up not far from the trail were gorgeous red walls wreathed in mist. I wish I could have gotten some pictures, but it was too wet to get my phone out. Terence brought his new binoculars though, and we took turns studying the amazing saguaros living right on the side of the hills. Beautiful!
After about a mile of walking through the wash, Terence started to get concerned. He wanted to turn back-- he thought we were going to get too far out and lose what daylight was filtering through the clouds. But I was determined to press on. This was my only chance (so I convinced myself) to make it the whole length of the Malpais trail! I wasn't giving up! Besides, the trail had to curve back soon to make its way back to the San Tan trail. The distance on the San Tan trail between the Malpais start and the end where Malpais looped back in wasn't that far.
I'm afraid I was rather stubborn.
Terence had a few comments about my headstrong recklessness but he followed me anyway. About another mile in the wash, the trail finally curved and I felt vindicated. "See?" I told him. "Now we'll connect back into San Tan and it's only two miles back."
Hahahahaha. No.
We started to do a LOT of uphill climbing. In the rain. On dirt trails that were now thick, slippery mud. And soon, the sun was going down and we were slipping and sliding in failing light. We actually reached the far end of the park and traveled along the barbed wire fence boundary for a long time. Thank goodness Terence had flashlights for us. It was so hard to see. The rain was still coming down and everything had turned into a foggy, unrecognizable dreamscape. It did not look ANYTHING like the park I thought I knew like the back of my hand. And there were no other people, no bikes, not even any lights in the distance.
At this point I started to panic. Especially since the Malpais trail did not seem like it was ever going to end. I didn't say anything though. I still had my pride, and I didn't want my long-suffering husband to have to calm me down because of my own stupidity. But oh my gosh. There was at least a mile of "I don't know where we are, I don't know where we are, what the heck are we going to do?" It wasn't always easy to stay on the trail. When everything turns into a lake, the trail doesn't look much different from the bare ground in between cacti and scrubby bushes. I kept having to stop and flash my light around to find the next reflective trail marker so I didn't head the wrong way.
We were completely soaked through by this time. I was a little popsicle, especially my legs. Wet jeans are not comfortable. And Terence was having a harder and harder time with the hike. His knee was not happy.
About the point when I was going to burst into tears we stumbled onto the junction with the San Tan trail. Glory hallelujah! Odd and unfamiliar as it was in the dark, in my head I knew exactly where we were. At this point, my garmin said we had been hiking more than six miles. Terence grumbled a bit-- he'd thought the total hike was going to be about six miles. Of course, I hadn't known, because I had not looked at the map. But I'm afraid I probably guessed it was about six or seven miles. Oops.
It was totally and completely dark by this point and we were starting to worry that we were not going to make it back to the car before the park closed. But I figured we'd hit Hedgehog, cut back through to San Tan, and make it back to the trailhead in about an hour. So we pressed on, expecting to see the turn off to Hedgehog around every bend in the trail.
But we kept twisting and turning and no Hedgehog appeared. I was growing worried. In the mist and dark the trail looked different, but I knew that we were walking too far. Had we missed it? Finally we reached a bench and Terence got excited. "Hedgehog at last!" But I stared at it in dismay.
I knew exactly where we were. It wasn't the Hedgehog turnoff. I had gone the wrong direction on San Tan, and we were now much farther on the San Tan loop. Turning around and going back to Hedgehog would make the trip longer than going forward.
In essence I had stretched out our hike even longer. Shortly thereafter my garmin died. It said we had traveled 7.2 miles.
Terence was limping by this point.
I was half afraid he was going to demand a divorce.
It took us another hour to make it back to the car, squelching through mud and slipping down the sharp ravines. We tried to skirt the lakes of water that periodically obscured the trail, but it wasn't always possible. There was the looming stress that when we finally reached the car we wouldn't be able to get out of the park without waking up a park host (assuming they weren't partying for New Year's). But eventually, we made it.
We were both starving and in desperate need of dry clothes and a bathroom. (We were partially out of luck-- the bathrooms were already locked, but at least the front gate was still open so we could drive out.) We ended up at Popeye's chicken, looking like two drowned rats, but ravenous enough to eat a boatload of food. At least we had burned enough calories to eat all the Cajun-style fried chicken we wanted!
The next day the park posted a facebook event for the end of January-- a group hike on the Malpais trail, looping back around via Hedgehog (the path I originally intended to take). They described it as a 9 mile hike through moderately difficult terrain, for experienced hikers only.
Yep. I can attest to that.
Also, my husband is a saint. He still loves me, even after all that!
It is one of those facts of life as a cop spouse that I got used to ages ago. However, by some miracle he managed to get my last birthday off (I think it fell on his regular day off and for once they weren't requiring all the officers to work anyway). So Terence told me that whatever I wanted to do, he would go along with it. Since usually I sit at home on my birthday and work on a puzzle, this was awesome news, and I decided not to waste it.
By going on a very long hike!
(Isn't that what most people do for their birthdays? Or New Year's Eve?)
The greater Phoenix area has a system of "parks" that are pretty much desert hills with trails to hike and bike and ride horses on. I have an annual pass, and I drag the kids out all the time (at least during the cooler months). But there is one trail at our closest park that I have never taken them on. It is quite long, and a long stretch of it is in a sandy wash. I've never wanted to deal with the complaints-- or having to carry K or S should it prove too long. But I could tell from my long runs and occasional bike rides in the back direction of the park that this particular trail would have beautiful views. So I convinced Terence to do it with me.
Now on my birthday the weather gods decided Phoenix was due for rain-- lots of it. Not the downpours of monsoon season, mind, but a steady, ongoing drizzle. Terence said he was still willing to go hiking (and I optimistically thought the rain was ending) so we loaded up and headed out to the park even though things were already quite wet.
We weren't completely stupid about it. We wore hats and warm coats and gloves. We packed plenty of water and some snacks. Terence even stuck in a couple of flashlights and a headlamp, even though the plan was to finish long before dark. It was kind of empty when we arrived, but the guy at the front gate wished us a fun hike in the rain, so obviously it wasn't too odd to go hiking in such weather.
It started out fine at first. I have hiked every trail at this park multiple times with the exception of the stretch (the Malpais trail) that we were planning to tackle. So I didn't grab a map. I didn't think I'd need one. Ah, the arrogance. Well, now I know better.
We headed out into the drizzle in the early afternoon. It was fun to hike next to Terence with the rain dripping off my hat brim-- the trail wasn't too muddy and we even saw a mountain biker or two. The first two miles were very familiar territory, even for Terence. We have run this trail together as well as biked it. But soon after we got to the Malpais turn off. Here I got really excited, even though the drizzle was turning into rain. New territory!! We turned off, and soon found ourselves in the wash. It was actually easier going than the trail-- the sand absorbed the water, firming up, without being slippery like the muddy dirt trails.
It was breathtaking back there! The cliffs that rise up not far from the trail were gorgeous red walls wreathed in mist. I wish I could have gotten some pictures, but it was too wet to get my phone out. Terence brought his new binoculars though, and we took turns studying the amazing saguaros living right on the side of the hills. Beautiful!
After about a mile of walking through the wash, Terence started to get concerned. He wanted to turn back-- he thought we were going to get too far out and lose what daylight was filtering through the clouds. But I was determined to press on. This was my only chance (so I convinced myself) to make it the whole length of the Malpais trail! I wasn't giving up! Besides, the trail had to curve back soon to make its way back to the San Tan trail. The distance on the San Tan trail between the Malpais start and the end where Malpais looped back in wasn't that far.
I'm afraid I was rather stubborn.
Terence had a few comments about my headstrong recklessness but he followed me anyway. About another mile in the wash, the trail finally curved and I felt vindicated. "See?" I told him. "Now we'll connect back into San Tan and it's only two miles back."
Hahahahaha. No.
We started to do a LOT of uphill climbing. In the rain. On dirt trails that were now thick, slippery mud. And soon, the sun was going down and we were slipping and sliding in failing light. We actually reached the far end of the park and traveled along the barbed wire fence boundary for a long time. Thank goodness Terence had flashlights for us. It was so hard to see. The rain was still coming down and everything had turned into a foggy, unrecognizable dreamscape. It did not look ANYTHING like the park I thought I knew like the back of my hand. And there were no other people, no bikes, not even any lights in the distance.
At this point I started to panic. Especially since the Malpais trail did not seem like it was ever going to end. I didn't say anything though. I still had my pride, and I didn't want my long-suffering husband to have to calm me down because of my own stupidity. But oh my gosh. There was at least a mile of "I don't know where we are, I don't know where we are, what the heck are we going to do?" It wasn't always easy to stay on the trail. When everything turns into a lake, the trail doesn't look much different from the bare ground in between cacti and scrubby bushes. I kept having to stop and flash my light around to find the next reflective trail marker so I didn't head the wrong way.
We were completely soaked through by this time. I was a little popsicle, especially my legs. Wet jeans are not comfortable. And Terence was having a harder and harder time with the hike. His knee was not happy.
About the point when I was going to burst into tears we stumbled onto the junction with the San Tan trail. Glory hallelujah! Odd and unfamiliar as it was in the dark, in my head I knew exactly where we were. At this point, my garmin said we had been hiking more than six miles. Terence grumbled a bit-- he'd thought the total hike was going to be about six miles. Of course, I hadn't known, because I had not looked at the map. But I'm afraid I probably guessed it was about six or seven miles. Oops.
It was totally and completely dark by this point and we were starting to worry that we were not going to make it back to the car before the park closed. But I figured we'd hit Hedgehog, cut back through to San Tan, and make it back to the trailhead in about an hour. So we pressed on, expecting to see the turn off to Hedgehog around every bend in the trail.
But we kept twisting and turning and no Hedgehog appeared. I was growing worried. In the mist and dark the trail looked different, but I knew that we were walking too far. Had we missed it? Finally we reached a bench and Terence got excited. "Hedgehog at last!" But I stared at it in dismay.
I knew exactly where we were. It wasn't the Hedgehog turnoff. I had gone the wrong direction on San Tan, and we were now much farther on the San Tan loop. Turning around and going back to Hedgehog would make the trip longer than going forward.
In essence I had stretched out our hike even longer. Shortly thereafter my garmin died. It said we had traveled 7.2 miles.
Terence was limping by this point.
I was half afraid he was going to demand a divorce.
It took us another hour to make it back to the car, squelching through mud and slipping down the sharp ravines. We tried to skirt the lakes of water that periodically obscured the trail, but it wasn't always possible. There was the looming stress that when we finally reached the car we wouldn't be able to get out of the park without waking up a park host (assuming they weren't partying for New Year's). But eventually, we made it.
We were both starving and in desperate need of dry clothes and a bathroom. (We were partially out of luck-- the bathrooms were already locked, but at least the front gate was still open so we could drive out.) We ended up at Popeye's chicken, looking like two drowned rats, but ravenous enough to eat a boatload of food. At least we had burned enough calories to eat all the Cajun-style fried chicken we wanted!
The next day the park posted a facebook event for the end of January-- a group hike on the Malpais trail, looping back around via Hedgehog (the path I originally intended to take). They described it as a 9 mile hike through moderately difficult terrain, for experienced hikers only.
Yep. I can attest to that.
Also, my husband is a saint. He still loves me, even after all that!
Comments