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!