Ragnar #34
This was hard. And not very fun. But it was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous. This was our last leg of the virtual Ragnar we signed up for. It was supposed to be 7.2 miles. Since we were going to hike Mount Humphreys, the tallest peak in Arizona, with Vickie's friend's hiking group, this would work out great. We met up with the team the night before at Oregano's. There were 11 of us including Daylene, Heidi, and Labrae from our Mount Baldy hike. They first gave us two tables that would only fit 8 people. So they said they would put us at another bigger table once the other party left. We could see them leaving so we waited. There were four guys and 7 gals. Since one of the tables was bigger than the other, I suggested we split off with a boy table and a girl table. But I wanted to sit by my wife, so I sat at the girl table. I ended up sitting at a spot where the corner of the table was sticking right into my fat tummy. I was very uncomfortable, and my ankle was a bit sore from the hike Vickie and I did that morning. Then while I was eating, I started to sweat. So I stopped eating and just asked for a box. I can count the number of times in my life I've asked for a box on one hand.
When we got back to the motel I ate the rest of my dinner and we went to sleep. I sweated so much. It was gross. I had to flip my pillow over because it was soaked. We got up at 3:30am so we could get ready. I tried to eat Vickie's leftover chicken fried steak, but it was chewy, so I spit it out. I just ate a bananan and some chocolate milk. We packed up and left and we followed Daylene up to the trail head. Everyone else was already there, but they had to wait on me to do my #2, #2 of the day. And the one ply toilet paper in the portajohns wasn't doing me any favors.
After I finished we were ready to go. It was 5:15am. We were greeted by a beautiful sunrise.
We took some pictures and were on our way. I was feeling good for the first 3.5 miles. I think the hike we did the previous day helped us to acclimate to the elevation a little bit even though it was about 2,000 feet lower than our starting point. This hike starts at 9,268 ft and ends at 12,633 ft. There was a lot of rocks and roots for those first 3.5 miles, but since it was a relatively steady climb, they didn't bother me. Then we started getting to steps. And climbs. They were starting to make me tired. I'm sure it was the elevation. Every time I would do something strenuous, I would have to stop to catch my breath. And the higher we went, the worse it got.
The saddle is around mile 4.1. This is where we took our second break. Daylene, who had hiked this once before, said, "Now comes the hard part." I was thinking, "That was quite hard enough. I don't know if I want to do anything harder than that." I could turn around now and still have enough miles for my Ragnar leg. But I didn't come all this way to not get to the top. And it was only 1.3 miles away. So the group got up and was ready to go. Vickie and I were the last to leave, but then one of our stragglers, Tami, arrived. We decided to wait with her until she was ready. There were two other girls that hadn't made it up yet either. Someone told us that they were coming. They knew they were with us because they were all wearing funny leggings.
Tami didn't take a long rest, so we were back on the trail not too far behind the rest of the group. But they soon were out of sight. We could see Chuck a ways off. Then we saw Heidi. We actually caught up and passed her. But I was moving real slow. It would seem like I could only go a few feet before I would have to stop and catch my breath after another step up. And now even the little step ups were making me stop.
From the saddle you could see that there were two peaks before the actual peak of Mount Humphreys. Having this in mind I just trudged along knowing that the first two were false hopes. After the second one I could finally see the top. It still looked so far away. But I could see people on top, which means it wasn't as far away as it looked. And even though it was a steep incline to the top, there were no more step ups. So I was able to get to the top to the cheers of the rest of the group. Vickie was right behind me. Heidi followed not long after. We took another group photo and looked at the view. It was beautiful, but I was too tired to be able to enjoy it fully.
I started to see clouds building up and I motioned to Daylene that we should start heading out. We started down and it was right when Tami had almost gotten to the top. She didn't want to be left alone, so Vickie turned around and hiked back up to the top with her. I waited for them. After about 10 minutes they were back and we headed down very slowly. Going down was almost as bad as going up. And my trail shoes weren't working great. They were slipping on patches of sand, and I almost biffed it several times. My arms were getting sore from lifting myself down all the rocks. We finally made it back to the saddle, and the girls wanted to keep going. Now it wasn't quite as hard, but I knew there were still some more step downs, and they weren't fun. Vickie had to pee now real bad. We stopped and took a quick break, but she couldn't wait long. She decided she was going to hold it until she got down to the bottom where the portajohns were. At the saddle I had decided to use her hiking poles because of all the slipping I was doing. They helped. I didn't slip anymore, but my right arm got real sore to the point where I could barely move it. I gave the poles back to Vickie. Luckily now we weren't in the sandy part anymore.
But I did slip once more after that and I was so annoyed that I told Vickie to go on without us. She needed to pee and I was going to take my time, so it wasn't a good combination. Tami and I hiked together, but I told her to go ahead of me. I actually needed to pee, too, and I didn't want her to see me. I was walking slow and I was stopping probably every quarter of a mile. I caught back up to Tami and we hiked together again until she was trying to lower herself down a rock and she slipped and fell on her butt, and almost bashed her head against a tree. She told me to go on without her. I was thinking, what happens next time when you actuall concuss yourself? We still had about two miles to go, but I decided we would part ways. I needed to be done, and the rests weren't helping. I said a little prayer and then realized that the best thing would be to just keep going without stopping. The clouds were still building. I did stop briefly once and then I heard a rumbling thunder crack. I thought it must be God saying, "I told you not to stop!"
I was back into the rocks and roots. If it wasn't for them, the last three miles wouldn't have been so bad. But they were there and it was bad. I trudged along. There were two trees that were fallen over the path. Luckily only two this time as opposed to the 50+ on the previous hike. When I stepped over the first one, I didn't see the rock on the other side. I stepped on the rock, and it rolled, and my right ankle rolled, and my left knee hit the ground all in one motion. I just stayed there on my knees for about 10 seconds waiting for the pain to go away. It was the same ankle I had twisted in February. But the Lord had already listened to my prayer about getting back safely, and to my surprise, I was able to get back up and start walking again. I was even able to run a little bit of the last mile. Right before I left the forest and entered the meadow, it had started to rain. It actually felt so good. I finally finished and right when I got to the van, it started to dump hard. Just in time. But poor Tami was still out there. She made it too, though. The other two girls only made it as far as the saddle. But that's good.
I am glad that I made it to the top and can say that I've hiked to the highest peak in AZ, but I don't ever want to do it again. I drove down the hill and we ate lunch at Sizzler's. Then I let Vickie drive home because my arm was still so sore. I layed down in the back and took a nap. Traffic was terrible again, but we finally made it home just in time for dinner. Here's a picture of Vickie and me at the saddle.
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