Dogie Trail

As I mentioned in my last post, my friend and I had planned to do a backpacking trip in Sedona last weekend only to have our plans foiled by illness.  Being resiliant, we simply rescheduled for this weekend.  So, Friday I got up early and made the 4.5 hour drive down just in time to snag one of the last remaining campsites.  While waiting for Stacey, who had to leave later, I drove around taking pictures of the red rocks.  I also bought a new camelback because in my absentmindedness I had forgotten a whole mess of things.  I'm glad I did though - the new camelback seems MUCH nicer than the older ones, which always leak on me.

Stacey got in late that night and we got a bit of a slow start the next morning, hindered by the beautiful dawn light filtering through the trees as we attempted to break up camp.  As a result, we weren't on our trail until almost 11, which meant hiking during the heat of the day.  Interesting fact: as we drove the rural roads to the trailhead, we encounted a great big rattlesnake sitting in the middle of the road!

Last weekend a cold front had come through and temperatures in the area were a pleasant 40-60.  Silly me, I thought that was normal.  Nope!  We started hiking at 80 and it got hotter from there.  Additionally, it was a dry trail so we were carrying two days of water each plus some extra for cooking and emergencies: 22lbs of my pack just for water!  Given that 40lbs is my recommended maximum weight and 30lbs is optimal, packs were HEAVY.

As if the heat and the sun and the weight of the pack wasn't enough, about two miles into the trip I started experiencing some, well, gastro-intestinal distress.  I gotta say, hiking while sick is not fun!  I couldn't cinch my waist strap tightly enough so the pack wasn't riding right and I was pretty miserable.  I literally had to stop and drop my pack every 15-30 minutes.  Not fun!

We limped along for another three miles or so before giving in when we found a lovely little campsite on a plateau overlooking the gorge.  It was almost four by then.  Not the 9ish mile hike we'd planned, but given my unfortunate condition I was just glad to have that pack off!

Stacey started kicking rocks aside to better clear a space for our tent when she unearthed a scorpion!  Ick!  At least that was as reminder to be extra careful!

Once the camp was set we pulled out daypacks and wandered around a bit, swooping back to our home sweet home just as the sun was sinking behind the cliffs.  We devoured round one of dinner and waited impatiently for the stars to come out while we set up our cameras.  I'd managed to forget my tripod, so I balanced mine on some handy rocks, using my hat for aiming!

Darkness fell and stars filled the sky, the Milky Way sweeping across directly over our heads.  It was amazing - the second best night sky I've ever seen!

Mt. Humphreys

The plan for this past weekend was to backpack around Sedona with a friend and then summit Mt. Humphreys, the tallest mountain in Arizona, on Monday.  Unfortunately, my friend came down with a bug on Thursday and so we postponed backpacking for next weekend.  Because next weekend isn't a holiday weekend, Mt. Humphreys was off the schedule so I decided to drive down and do it myself.

I got in just after sunset, set up camp, and immediately started taking star pictures.  Unfortunately, the moon was nearly full so the stars weren't as excellent as I'd hoped for.  Still, not bad for my first tries at trails!

The next morning it was up early to break camp and drive the hour or so to Mt. Humphreys trail head.  It was quite chilly and I felt right at home!  The first quarter mile wound across a frosted meadow before heading into the forest and the switchbacks.  I was a little surprised to see the trail covered with snow and ice.

At first, the climb was no big deal.  It reminded me a lot of Resurrection Pass actually, just a bit steeper.  The ice made things sketchy in some places.  The stretch from the treeline to the saddle, however, was physically the toughest part.  The scraggly trees were covered in ice balls and every minute or so another tree would drop a bunch, sending them skittering down the slop and sending my avalanche-terrified heart pounding.

Finally, after three hours I reached the saddle.  The views were most excellent.  Since the trail was so bad, though, most of the other folks decided to head back down instead of continuing to the summit.  I pushed on alone.  Honestly, it was pretty nerve wracking to not know if there was anyone in front or behind me, what with my hiking by myself on such slippery and sketchy terrain.  A broken leg with no one around could easily prove fatal.  About thirty minutes later though, I gained a high point and saw that there were, in fact, people on both sides of me which made me feel better.

Getting from the saddle to the summit was not as physically draining as the final switchbacks were, but it was a mental challenge.  There are at least three false summits and even if you know this as I did, it was still really hard to keep going after each "summit" proved to not be.  Finding the trail was also almost impossible at times!

Eventually, though, I made it!  I was on top of Arizona, with amazing views in all directions!  It took four hours and fifteen minutes, longer than I had planned.  I spent about 30 minutes on the summit before beginning what I figured would be a grueling descent, what with the snow, ice, and my knee problems.

In actuality, I made the decent in about three hours.  I fell twice coming around a switchback, but the area wasn't dangerous and the falls weren't too bad.  My knee wasn't even bothering me!  Of course, marveling about that fact apparently jinxed me, because about a mile from the trail head my OTHER knee started hurting really bad!  I limped along on it for a few minutes before wising up and switching my brace from one knee to the other, and was able to finish out the trail without further difficulty.

BBA #26, 27, 28, 29, 30

It's been a while since I've posted a BBA challenge post.  Partially this is because I've been stalled for about a year on the sourdough starter.  I tried and failed a few times, then just forgot about it in the chaos of moving and all.  However, I recently visited a friend who gave me some of her starter, so I used my baby "Zeke" to get me going on the challenge again.

However, when I started up with the sourdoughs, I realized that somehow I lost my photographs from the last four breads that I didn't remember to post when I made them!  I've switched computers in the meantime, and maybe they're still here, but I haven't been able to find them.  So here's a quick write-up on those four (what I remember), and my first sourdough.

#26, Poolish Baguette

This one was okay, but if I'm going to spend the time to make a poolish, I see no reason to not be making Pain a l'ancienne instead!

#27, Portuguese Sweet Bread

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I don't like sweet breads.  However, on a TDY before I made this bread, DH had a sandwich with Kahlua pork and sweet bread, so I made the pork at the same time as I made this loaf.  They went pretty well together.

#28, Potato Rosemary Bread

Without a doubt, this bread is one of the contenders for "Best Recipe in BBA!"  I made two loaves and gave one to my (then pregnant) friend.  It might have been the hormones, but she tore into this like there was no tomorrow!  I don't think her husband got to try any, and I don't blame her, it's that good!  As it happens, I finally have leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge.  I'm going to make this again ASAP.

#29, Pugliese

Honestly, not particularly memorable.  Maybe if I had used the durum flour it would have made a difference.

#30, Sourdough (pictured above)

Yum yum yum yum yum!  Sourdough is a favorite in this house and this recipe did not let us down - apart from being even better the second day than the first!  I did make a few mistakes working with my baby Zeke.  I need to listen to the dough more than the timeframe given in the recipe.  As a result, the bread was a little heavy and dense, but I think I can fix it next time!  I also didn't get the crust and color that I'd want, but since I'm working without my best baking materials (notably, my baking stone), I figure that's not my fault!

La Madre Spring

I have to say, I'm really enjoying the fact that a 4 mile hike with 700ft elevation gain up and then down is no longer a good workout for me.  I don't know that I've ever been in this good of shape.  The hike today was SUPPOSED to be longer and harder, but I had my first weather-abort.

I started out knowing that I'd have to keep an eye on the sky, since a cold front was coming through.  There was a brief shower as I drove to the trail, and another shower higher up that left a lovely rainbow.

The sky was blue when I hit the trail, though!  In fact, too much so.  There was absolutely no shade and the sun was intense, even though it was relatively cool out.

The first rainshower was a gentle little drizzle that quickly faded back into blue sky, so I kept going.  The second was harder and accompanied by some rather threatening clouds.  I decided to push on to the spring, which wasn't far away, but I was definitely rethinking my plan to go all the way to the mines and cabin.

I made it to the spring without further precipitation, but it had dropped about ten degrees.  With that and the clouds, plus the wind picking up, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and headed back.

Apart from the impending storm, the hike back was absolutely lovely.  The weather was perfect for my Alaska-accustomed self and the clouds blocked out the sun.

I probably could have pressed on without trouble, but the storms hit only two hours after I got back to my car, which would have been cutting it a little close, especially with how far lightning can jump.  I'm not sure if I'll go back and finish it up - the trail was a gravel trail which I HATE.  It's really rough on the joints, I don't know why anyone would think it's a good idea!