Jack and Jill (Falling and Tumbling) - March 26, 2018
Now that Laur goes on three hikes a week, he has to scramble a bit to find a hike that he has not done and that others might go with him on.
Wednesday is a no-brainer for Laur – he just has to show up. Allan W. leads the hike that day. But for Mondays and Fridays – that’s when the old hamster wheel has to start spinning.
Fridays – not so bad. Laur usually picks a hike in the Catalina Range to the Northeast of Tucson. It’s an hour to get there and an hour to get back. Add an 8 to 10-mile hike and that takes up the whole day.
Mondays – or at least every second Monday – are a little more challenging. Laur has church meetings every two weeks and doesn’t get home until about 10:30 – a little late for heading into the Catalinas. This leaves him and fellow hikers with Santa Rita Range ventures – only about a ½ drive to get there.
But there aren’t a heck of a lot of hikes in this area so Laurence sometimes has to invent one. Laur calls these hikes where he’s not sure about where he is going “Exploratory Hikes.” And these hikes aren’t for everyone. Sometimes they end up being duds – ie there is nothing to hike when we get there. And sometimes they end up being hair-raising. This is what the Jack Mountain / Sprat Ridge hike was.
It started out well enough. An invigorating hike on an established trail - up Old Baldy to Josephine Saddle. 2.5 miles in 80 minutes - not bad for two seniors, one of whom has shorter legs than the other. And then the real hike started. We went on the Agua Caliente Trail – which was more than a little steep, for a half mile. And then Laur directed us into the bush.
We tried to follow what is called a “social trail” along the top of Sprat Ridge. What is a social trail? It’s an unofficial trail that is not maintained and is used only by insane hikers or hiding migrants. This particular trail was not only hard to find, it was painful to follow. Boulders, cacti, trees, and bushes stood in our way. I said to Laur, “You might want to invest in a machete next time.”
And it was interesting – to us. And then it became more interesting. We were trying to stay on this there-then-gone path and follow the ridge down a reasonable amount of slope onto a familiar trail. But it disappeared on us again at one point and we could not pick it up again.
I looked over the side at one point and said, “There Laurie – I think I see it!” And indeed, there was a sort of path. But we would have to scramble down some steep and nasty stuff to reach it. Ah well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Over we went.
The trail was not a “social trail” but an animal trail used by more surefooted creatures like deer and mountain lions. Laur said, “We’d better stop here. If we go any further, we may not be able to climb back up again.” And I said, “There Laurie – I think I see it!” Laur didn’t want to backtrack anymore than I did so we slid and tumbled down to this path. And it too ended.
By now we had pretty much reached the point of no return – at least when it came to ascending. The only way out now was down. Really down. At times rather straight down. For about a mile we alternated sliding down on our behinds, using our sticks as spikes, and tumbling.
At one point, Laur tumbled and slid under a downed tree. I went careening past him – stopping myself on a still standing tree. Laur said to me after a few attempts at getting up, “Jannie, could you lift this tree off me?” I replied in my best super-hero voice, “Sure baby!” I didn’t lift the entire tree, but I was able to push up some branches enough that Laurence was able to work his way free. An even steeper section awaited us. I suggested we have a snack. The two of us just sat there giggling – the only logical response to a crazy situation.
Eventually we arrived at a dry streambed. These are normally the kinds of things that I look at and say, “Who in their right mind would ever hike up (or down) one of those?” They are steep and full of almost impassable boulders. But compared to scrambling down Spratt Ridge, this was a cake walk.
We eventually made it back to the parking lot where our trusty 20-year-old Cadillac was waiting for us. How grateful we were when Laur reached into his backpack and found his keys. Me, my job was to carry the “bear bells” and I had lost them the minute we went off the beaten path – where there were most likely to be bears.
What have we learned from this? What Laur learned after studying the topographical map once we got home is that we missed the gentler route down – probably by only 100 feet. He’s all set to tackle this ridge again.
What I have learned is that I should never lead a hike. I am the one who led Laurence “off the beaten track.”
Wednesday is a no-brainer for Laur – he just has to show up. Allan W. leads the hike that day. But for Mondays and Fridays – that’s when the old hamster wheel has to start spinning.
Fridays – not so bad. Laur usually picks a hike in the Catalina Range to the Northeast of Tucson. It’s an hour to get there and an hour to get back. Add an 8 to 10-mile hike and that takes up the whole day.
Mondays – or at least every second Monday – are a little more challenging. Laur has church meetings every two weeks and doesn’t get home until about 10:30 – a little late for heading into the Catalinas. This leaves him and fellow hikers with Santa Rita Range ventures – only about a ½ drive to get there.
But there aren’t a heck of a lot of hikes in this area so Laurence sometimes has to invent one. Laur calls these hikes where he’s not sure about where he is going “Exploratory Hikes.” And these hikes aren’t for everyone. Sometimes they end up being duds – ie there is nothing to hike when we get there. And sometimes they end up being hair-raising. This is what the Jack Mountain / Sprat Ridge hike was.
It started out well enough. An invigorating hike on an established trail - up Old Baldy to Josephine Saddle. 2.5 miles in 80 minutes - not bad for two seniors, one of whom has shorter legs than the other. And then the real hike started. We went on the Agua Caliente Trail – which was more than a little steep, for a half mile. And then Laur directed us into the bush.
We tried to follow what is called a “social trail” along the top of Sprat Ridge. What is a social trail? It’s an unofficial trail that is not maintained and is used only by insane hikers or hiding migrants. This particular trail was not only hard to find, it was painful to follow. Boulders, cacti, trees, and bushes stood in our way. I said to Laur, “You might want to invest in a machete next time.”
And it was interesting – to us. And then it became more interesting. We were trying to stay on this there-then-gone path and follow the ridge down a reasonable amount of slope onto a familiar trail. But it disappeared on us again at one point and we could not pick it up again.
I looked over the side at one point and said, “There Laurie – I think I see it!” And indeed, there was a sort of path. But we would have to scramble down some steep and nasty stuff to reach it. Ah well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Over we went.
The trail was not a “social trail” but an animal trail used by more surefooted creatures like deer and mountain lions. Laur said, “We’d better stop here. If we go any further, we may not be able to climb back up again.” And I said, “There Laurie – I think I see it!” Laur didn’t want to backtrack anymore than I did so we slid and tumbled down to this path. And it too ended.
By now we had pretty much reached the point of no return – at least when it came to ascending. The only way out now was down. Really down. At times rather straight down. For about a mile we alternated sliding down on our behinds, using our sticks as spikes, and tumbling.
At one point, Laur tumbled and slid under a downed tree. I went careening past him – stopping myself on a still standing tree. Laur said to me after a few attempts at getting up, “Jannie, could you lift this tree off me?” I replied in my best super-hero voice, “Sure baby!” I didn’t lift the entire tree, but I was able to push up some branches enough that Laurence was able to work his way free. An even steeper section awaited us. I suggested we have a snack. The two of us just sat there giggling – the only logical response to a crazy situation.
Eventually we arrived at a dry streambed. These are normally the kinds of things that I look at and say, “Who in their right mind would ever hike up (or down) one of those?” They are steep and full of almost impassable boulders. But compared to scrambling down Spratt Ridge, this was a cake walk.
We eventually made it back to the parking lot where our trusty 20-year-old Cadillac was waiting for us. How grateful we were when Laur reached into his backpack and found his keys. Me, my job was to carry the “bear bells” and I had lost them the minute we went off the beaten path – where there were most likely to be bears.
What have we learned from this? What Laur learned after studying the topographical map once we got home is that we missed the gentler route down – probably by only 100 feet. He’s all set to tackle this ridge again.
What I have learned is that I should never lead a hike. I am the one who led Laurence “off the beaten track.”