The ‘Where Did All the Water Go?’ Hike! - February 2, 2020
I said to our DEAR FRIEND Bob – once we were within half an hour of getting back to the car – “What shall I call this hike? I know, I’ll call it the ‘Where did all the water go?’ hike!” More on that shortly.
Last year Laur and I did the Esperero Trail to Bridal Veil Falls hike starting at the Sabino Canyon’s Visitor Centre. And we remembered quite liking it. OK, so the part called Cardiac Gap was challenging and those 14 stream crossings were downright annoying. But the vistas throughout the hike were and are jaw –dropping and the Falls area is pristine. Very few people go as far as the Falls – for reasons which I can understand. Twelve miles of hiking and 2800 ft of elevation.
Laur chatted up this hike with Bob and he agreed to join us. (When will he ever learn?) Laur was pretty tickled – he had discovered a short-cut that would chop a mile off at the beginning and end of the hike. From 12 miles to 10 miles! Yahoo! What we really did not think about was that this involved climbing up a challenging small mountain and descending the other side of it. In Body Pump they call this “prefatiguing the muscles.” We were definitely prefatigued.
And then the real challenge began. The first real challenge. Cardiac Gap! I don’t remember it being so demanding. And it was hot. And I was thirsty. Knowing that we would be refilling our bottles at the stream – using purifying agents – both Laur and I drank our water freely. (That turned out to not be such a good idea.)
Finally, we reached the saddle, which we regulars refer to as the Gap. We sat down and had our first of many snacks. We were relaxed knowing the worst was behind us. We had a nice chat with a volunteer patroller who wanted to know if we had enough water to do the long hike we were planning to do. Laur and I did the volunteer patroller training. We know the importance of staying hydrated. “Oh yes, we have lots of water. And we’re planning to refill when we mee the stream further up.”
We continued on. I remember that last year the middle section of this hike was essentially flat. And not “cliffy.” This year it was instead VERY up and down over rocks and slippery gravel, and our friend Bob about lost his footing on a ridge section. Bob is very good about not losing his temper when the hike we plan is not quite the hike we have. This is a good thing because it happens frequently.
We passed by a pool of scummy looking water. We could have refilled our water bottles and treated the water there – and hubs and I were by now out of water – but why drink greenish water when you can have clear water?
Finally, we got to the stream section. Yay! Yes, it was going to be an uphill climb to the Falls, but we’d be chugging bottles of cold spring fed (treated) water. And then… Wait a minute! There was NO STREAM! WHAT?! It had dried up! But surely there had to be, closer to the falls. So we continued along. It was still a mile to our destination when Bob gently said, “We have a decision to make. You two are out of water and I’ve only got a half a litre…”
Laur was going to point out that between he and I, we had four pointy sticks and Bob only had one. But then hubs also remembered that Bob is a gun collector. You never quite know what is in that pack of his. 😊
I hate being bested by a hike – especially one I’ve done before. So I suggested, “Let’s hike 10 more minutes. If we find water, we continue on. If we don’t, we start the trek back.” Laur thought that made no sense whatsoever – and it didn’t – but “happy spouse, happy house.” (Besides, Bob doesn’t like it when “Mom” and “Dad” bicker.)
And wouldn’t you know it, just around the corner we found a fast-flowing wee stream. Yee haw. Laur and I filled up four bottles, and Bob filled up his empty one. One small problem, we couldn’t drink our water for at least half an hour. Bob donated to our cause.
It seemed like no time at all that we were at the Falls and we all enjoyed a major cooling off and the rest of our lunch. It was now about 1:30. It had taken us almost 5 hours to get there. We didn’t have five hours to get back.
I said, “Let’s boot it.” Bob said, “Let’s book it!” Laur said, “We don’t have to get back until 5:30 pm.” Needless to say, we were back at 4:05. A little tired, a little overheated, a little dehydrated, and very stinky. We sped past two volunteer patrollers and normally I’d enjoy having a little chat with them. This time, all I wanted was to be sitting in an air –conditioned car.
Bob said, “We’d have been back by 4 pm except for the person who needed some privacy to pee.” (That would be me.)
We left the parking lot at 4:10. I said to Bob, “We’d have left by 4:05 except for the person who needed to use the Porta Potty!” (That would be Bob.)
Back to the trailer by 5:30. Getting out of the car required a herculean effort – we were all so tired and stiff. How Bob then drove home in his Jeep, I do not know. The crockpot full of food awaiting him perhaps gave him the extra spur he needed.
Bob has offered to drive Laur and me to the airport when we return to Canada in April. It’s definitely nice of him to do that. But I think part of Bob wants to make sure his outlandish hiking partners get the heck out of Dodge for at least six months so he can do some ordinary hiking.
*****
Hike stats. 10 mile out –and –back; 2800 ft elevation gain; started hiking at 8:30 a.m. at 2800 ft of elev.; lunch at Falls at 1:00 p.m. (5400 ft elev.); finished at 4:00 p.m.= 7.5 hours.
See also https://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=1958
Last year Laur and I did the Esperero Trail to Bridal Veil Falls hike starting at the Sabino Canyon’s Visitor Centre. And we remembered quite liking it. OK, so the part called Cardiac Gap was challenging and those 14 stream crossings were downright annoying. But the vistas throughout the hike were and are jaw –dropping and the Falls area is pristine. Very few people go as far as the Falls – for reasons which I can understand. Twelve miles of hiking and 2800 ft of elevation.
Laur chatted up this hike with Bob and he agreed to join us. (When will he ever learn?) Laur was pretty tickled – he had discovered a short-cut that would chop a mile off at the beginning and end of the hike. From 12 miles to 10 miles! Yahoo! What we really did not think about was that this involved climbing up a challenging small mountain and descending the other side of it. In Body Pump they call this “prefatiguing the muscles.” We were definitely prefatigued.
And then the real challenge began. The first real challenge. Cardiac Gap! I don’t remember it being so demanding. And it was hot. And I was thirsty. Knowing that we would be refilling our bottles at the stream – using purifying agents – both Laur and I drank our water freely. (That turned out to not be such a good idea.)
Finally, we reached the saddle, which we regulars refer to as the Gap. We sat down and had our first of many snacks. We were relaxed knowing the worst was behind us. We had a nice chat with a volunteer patroller who wanted to know if we had enough water to do the long hike we were planning to do. Laur and I did the volunteer patroller training. We know the importance of staying hydrated. “Oh yes, we have lots of water. And we’re planning to refill when we mee the stream further up.”
We continued on. I remember that last year the middle section of this hike was essentially flat. And not “cliffy.” This year it was instead VERY up and down over rocks and slippery gravel, and our friend Bob about lost his footing on a ridge section. Bob is very good about not losing his temper when the hike we plan is not quite the hike we have. This is a good thing because it happens frequently.
We passed by a pool of scummy looking water. We could have refilled our water bottles and treated the water there – and hubs and I were by now out of water – but why drink greenish water when you can have clear water?
Finally, we got to the stream section. Yay! Yes, it was going to be an uphill climb to the Falls, but we’d be chugging bottles of cold spring fed (treated) water. And then… Wait a minute! There was NO STREAM! WHAT?! It had dried up! But surely there had to be, closer to the falls. So we continued along. It was still a mile to our destination when Bob gently said, “We have a decision to make. You two are out of water and I’ve only got a half a litre…”
Laur was going to point out that between he and I, we had four pointy sticks and Bob only had one. But then hubs also remembered that Bob is a gun collector. You never quite know what is in that pack of his. 😊
I hate being bested by a hike – especially one I’ve done before. So I suggested, “Let’s hike 10 more minutes. If we find water, we continue on. If we don’t, we start the trek back.” Laur thought that made no sense whatsoever – and it didn’t – but “happy spouse, happy house.” (Besides, Bob doesn’t like it when “Mom” and “Dad” bicker.)
And wouldn’t you know it, just around the corner we found a fast-flowing wee stream. Yee haw. Laur and I filled up four bottles, and Bob filled up his empty one. One small problem, we couldn’t drink our water for at least half an hour. Bob donated to our cause.
It seemed like no time at all that we were at the Falls and we all enjoyed a major cooling off and the rest of our lunch. It was now about 1:30. It had taken us almost 5 hours to get there. We didn’t have five hours to get back.
I said, “Let’s boot it.” Bob said, “Let’s book it!” Laur said, “We don’t have to get back until 5:30 pm.” Needless to say, we were back at 4:05. A little tired, a little overheated, a little dehydrated, and very stinky. We sped past two volunteer patrollers and normally I’d enjoy having a little chat with them. This time, all I wanted was to be sitting in an air –conditioned car.
Bob said, “We’d have been back by 4 pm except for the person who needed some privacy to pee.” (That would be me.)
We left the parking lot at 4:10. I said to Bob, “We’d have left by 4:05 except for the person who needed to use the Porta Potty!” (That would be Bob.)
Back to the trailer by 5:30. Getting out of the car required a herculean effort – we were all so tired and stiff. How Bob then drove home in his Jeep, I do not know. The crockpot full of food awaiting him perhaps gave him the extra spur he needed.
Bob has offered to drive Laur and me to the airport when we return to Canada in April. It’s definitely nice of him to do that. But I think part of Bob wants to make sure his outlandish hiking partners get the heck out of Dodge for at least six months so he can do some ordinary hiking.
*****
Hike stats. 10 mile out –and –back; 2800 ft elevation gain; started hiking at 8:30 a.m. at 2800 ft of elev.; lunch at Falls at 1:00 p.m. (5400 ft elev.); finished at 4:00 p.m.= 7.5 hours.
See also https://hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=1958