SBP2 - Wild Crazy Hiking Adventure

Back to the story...

Saturday and Sunday were pretty laid back, well, except for the time that Brian, David, and Macaiah went climbing down in a mine... but I didn't go along! ;)

Monday the guys wanted to go hiking and eventually it turned into everyone going. Of course that meant it took us quite awhile longer to get ready. My first clue that this wasn't going to be an easy hike was all the stuff we had to take with us. Food, lots of water (hi, this is the desert!), ropes(?), camera, diapers, baby, check!

We finally got to the trailhead about 2:30. Which was good because it was a lot warmer at that elevation than at their house. I would have hated to start at noon.

"Trail head", looking back the crazy road we drove up on.

The trail was supposedly .8 miles to a canyon. As the crow flies.

Except there wasn't any trail - well, unless you count a wild donkey trail that cut in and out.

And we were going up the side of a hill through nasty churro cacti. (there may be a picture of those in a later post)

Prickly Pear cactus

The cacti were in bloom so that was pretty!

Barrel cactus next to my Nalgene. About 50 years old to get this size.
You are not allowed to take any cactus home... except we did because we found a small (very small) one of this variety that had been uprooted already.

We got to the top of the first hill and went down the other side...

this is the view from the top of the first hill

See that cleft in the rock right in the middle of the picture. Then look to the left of it. That was the "valley" we climbed up, curving around to the right to get to the top of the second hill.

Akiva, David, and Taval in the "wash" in the bottom of the first valley
(which means you don't want to be in it when it rains or you will get washed away)

Our 8+ months pregnant friend, Dahlia, on this hike!

Little trooper, Akiva (4), who didn't want to go at the beginning, but I think ended up having a good time!

Cory getting a chance to check out the rocks. He spent most of the trip on Daddy's back in the Ergo baby carrier.

Super cool hiker dude, Macaiah.
Rest stop at the top of the second hill. Check out the crazy cool rock features!

View down into the canyon from the top of the second ridge

Which was gotten to by rappelling. I don't know what we would have done if somebody hadn't brought a ladder in for the bottom half. Did I mention we had 4 children under 6 and a very pregnant lady with us?

Needless to say, by the time we even got to the canyon it was after 5 o'clock. And we didn't want to be caught in the dark. I was not super impressed by the canyon as I guess I was expecting more of an oasis. There was a part where the water had dug out kind of a cave, but, you guessed it, only the guys got to go down in it.

We headed back and followed the wash around the side of the 1st ridge rather than going over it again. About halfway back it was getting pretty dark. Dahlia was having a hard time stepping down, and there was no trail half the time (remember the wild donkeys? well, apparently they make trails that go nowhere!). We did have a couple flashlights (that should have been one of my warning signs!) and finally made it back to the cars around 8pm and full dark.

On a side note, I just realized today that it was barely dusk at 8pm up here where we live. Amazing how that is affected by your latitude!

We made it home, Dahlia didn't go into labor, and that was the hiking adventure!


(Are any of my Costa Rica '98 buddies reminded of Pico Blanco yet? :)