Hikermania - December 14, 2016
Turns out my husband is more Biblically literate than I thought. It says in Proverbs 21:19 – “It is better to live alone in the desert than with a crabby, complaining wife.” And today he went hiking without me! He’s with some senior hiking lads from Tucson. Mind you, he had to put up with me long enough for me to drop him off. You see, we only have one car and I had a volunteer commitment in Tucson. It’s a heckuva car, mind you – it’s a 20-year-old Cadillac. But not so amazing as to be able to divide into two 10 year old Coupes.
Few things could have surprised me more than my hub’s love affair with Arizona hiking. I truly thought that when in AZ, except during his mandatory volunteer hours, he’d be playing pool in the morning and pickle ball in the afternoon.
But hiking grabbed on to him like a Teddy Bear cactus (and until you’ve had the spikes of one of those critters pulled out of you, you really can’t appreciate the simile above.) It started slowly, when we first starting coming to AZ for a week at a time, five years ago when Laur was still working. We’d go for an hour’s walk and, to be quite honest, I’d be done. I have a Les Mills group exercise class mentality – after 55 minutes I’m ready for cool down and take off.
That wasn’t enough for Laur. He signed us up to the Wednesday hiking group at our trailer park. Our first hike with them was the 6.5 mile Josephine Saddle route. I just about croaked! I was a tad anemic at the time, I didn’t bring enough quarts of water and pounds of food – I’m speaking American here – and I hadn’t managed the art of peeing in the bush, or scrub. Not a recipe for hiking happiness.
Last year was our first six month chunk of time down here and Laur was not going to miss a Wednesday hike – and they are usually less than 5 miles. In fact, on the days that our hike leader, Alan, was away, Laur would invent hikes of his own. OK, not really, they are established routes – or were supposed to be. And then Laur heard of the Monday hiking group – they did 10 mile plus hikes, and then went for lunch together. Double bonus – for him at least.
So I went on my first 10 mile hike with only a snack. It was crazy hot, much longer than I’d ever done, and we didn’t finish until 2 pm. I am not exaggerating when I say that Laur had to hold me up for the last part of the hike, and plunk me into the car. We did go for lunch, but it was to my least favourite restaurant ever, and that is a story for another day.
Laur now designs and leads a Saturday hike, or the “Yikes Hikes.” These are demanding – they are about 10 miles and usually involve a fair bit of elevation (and descending – which isn’t always easier when gravel is involved.) And we get to eat lunch half-way through. Phew! Yes, I said “we” because I do go, as does my gal-pal Elvie.
The hike is open to everyone in this senior’s park and beyond the wall, but normally we are the only three that show up. Laurence leads, Elvie is in the middle, and I’m “the sweep” – the follow up person whose job is to make sure no one gets left behind. The only one who does is me – Laur seems to be going for his PhD in hiking, and Lauren is part mountain goat. But it truly does feel good once we get back to the car, and even better once we get back to our trailer. It feels downright jubilant to go tuck into bed!
But Laur wants to push his limits ever further, which is why he has signed up with the Tucson Hiking Meetup Group. These are serious hikers. Today he is part of the Advanced Group, which means “up to 16 miles and may feature bush-whacking and rock scrambling.”
I think he’s being a little unwise, but not so foolish as to rely on me to pick him up. One of the lads will drop him off here (assuming he makes it. I don’t think they have the “no man gets left behind” motto.) It’s not that I’m malicious – just very forgetful! And he has the phone today, so can’t call to remind me.
He did ask me to remember what trail he went on, in case he didn’t return. Let’s see. There was a number 4 – or maybe it was something else; it was about a half hour drive from here, and there were some mountains…
PS Picture is of Laur BEFORE he fell into the Teddy Bear cactus, which you can see, just to his right….
Few things could have surprised me more than my hub’s love affair with Arizona hiking. I truly thought that when in AZ, except during his mandatory volunteer hours, he’d be playing pool in the morning and pickle ball in the afternoon.
But hiking grabbed on to him like a Teddy Bear cactus (and until you’ve had the spikes of one of those critters pulled out of you, you really can’t appreciate the simile above.) It started slowly, when we first starting coming to AZ for a week at a time, five years ago when Laur was still working. We’d go for an hour’s walk and, to be quite honest, I’d be done. I have a Les Mills group exercise class mentality – after 55 minutes I’m ready for cool down and take off.
That wasn’t enough for Laur. He signed us up to the Wednesday hiking group at our trailer park. Our first hike with them was the 6.5 mile Josephine Saddle route. I just about croaked! I was a tad anemic at the time, I didn’t bring enough quarts of water and pounds of food – I’m speaking American here – and I hadn’t managed the art of peeing in the bush, or scrub. Not a recipe for hiking happiness.
Last year was our first six month chunk of time down here and Laur was not going to miss a Wednesday hike – and they are usually less than 5 miles. In fact, on the days that our hike leader, Alan, was away, Laur would invent hikes of his own. OK, not really, they are established routes – or were supposed to be. And then Laur heard of the Monday hiking group – they did 10 mile plus hikes, and then went for lunch together. Double bonus – for him at least.
So I went on my first 10 mile hike with only a snack. It was crazy hot, much longer than I’d ever done, and we didn’t finish until 2 pm. I am not exaggerating when I say that Laur had to hold me up for the last part of the hike, and plunk me into the car. We did go for lunch, but it was to my least favourite restaurant ever, and that is a story for another day.
Laur now designs and leads a Saturday hike, or the “Yikes Hikes.” These are demanding – they are about 10 miles and usually involve a fair bit of elevation (and descending – which isn’t always easier when gravel is involved.) And we get to eat lunch half-way through. Phew! Yes, I said “we” because I do go, as does my gal-pal Elvie.
The hike is open to everyone in this senior’s park and beyond the wall, but normally we are the only three that show up. Laurence leads, Elvie is in the middle, and I’m “the sweep” – the follow up person whose job is to make sure no one gets left behind. The only one who does is me – Laur seems to be going for his PhD in hiking, and Lauren is part mountain goat. But it truly does feel good once we get back to the car, and even better once we get back to our trailer. It feels downright jubilant to go tuck into bed!
But Laur wants to push his limits ever further, which is why he has signed up with the Tucson Hiking Meetup Group. These are serious hikers. Today he is part of the Advanced Group, which means “up to 16 miles and may feature bush-whacking and rock scrambling.”
I think he’s being a little unwise, but not so foolish as to rely on me to pick him up. One of the lads will drop him off here (assuming he makes it. I don’t think they have the “no man gets left behind” motto.) It’s not that I’m malicious – just very forgetful! And he has the phone today, so can’t call to remind me.
He did ask me to remember what trail he went on, in case he didn’t return. Let’s see. There was a number 4 – or maybe it was something else; it was about a half hour drive from here, and there were some mountains…
PS Picture is of Laur BEFORE he fell into the Teddy Bear cactus, which you can see, just to his right….