"You never climb the same mountain twice, not even in memory. Memory rebuilds the mountain, changes the weather, retells the jokes, remakes all the moves."
-- Lito Tejada-Flores
And, today we took a hike we had taken before - but, for variety, we went in a clockwise direction rather than counter-clockwise. Variety is the spice of life, you know. We awoke at 6:00, ate breakfast, stopped for donuts and arrived at the trailhead by 8:15. Wonder of wonders - this trailhead had a bathroom.
Because it was supposed to be in the 80’s, we unzipped the legs on our pants but kept our hiking shirts on. However, as we climbed up to Freemont Saddle we grew warmer, took them off and stowed them in our packs.
Freemont Saddle is about 2.2 miles up (and I mean ‘up’) the trail and is one of the major viewpoints for the Weaver’s Needle. A pretty popular trail and a great stopping point: a rigorous climb, a great view, and a walk back down with views across the valley. Thus we found about 15 cars at the trailhead when we got there. Even at 8:30, as we climbed up, we met several people who had already attained Freemont Saddle and were returning. One guy told us he had started before the sun came up. Now, we like to hike and get an early start but that’s way too early. I”m not even sure that the donuts have been baked by this time. What’s the point?
Have I ever mentioned ‘competitive hiking?’ Well, that’s what I call the desire to not let others pass me on the trail. I hear someone coming up behind me and I speed up. I don’t want to be passed. Of course, at my age, It’s getting more difficult. Today, I got passed. But I comforted myself with saying that I was going to hike 13 miles and they were just going to the saddle and back. I was in it for the long haul and merely conserving my strength. Ha!
Beautiful views across the Superstition Wilderness from the Saddle and Weaver’s Needle dominated the scenery. You can also see the two shadows of the two intrepid (oblivious?) hikers surveying the valley through which they are headed.
We have found that there are ‘mesas’ which are bigger than ‘buttes’ which are bigger than ‘spires’. Weaver’s Needle is a spire and what a magnificent spire dominating the skyline from whatever view.
We chatted a bit with several others at the Saddle and then we began the trek further into the Wilderness. And, is it ever a wilderness: acres and acres and I doubt that we’ll see another soul until we get back to the trailhead. Since this part of the trail is not as popular as the first 2.2 miles, it was overgrown in many spots. In fact, sometimes we felt as if we were clambering through brush and not on any trail at all.
Remember how we had taken our legs and our shirts off? Big Mistake. We were hiking through something that looked like holly (note the pointy edges on each leaf),
And this little thing called mesquite (look at those thorns).
Who in their right mind would hike through this? Well, that’s a question for the ages. We remembered that the trail was a bit overgrown last year but not this overgrown. Has it been a wetter season than usual? Is the forest service facing budget cuts and not maintaining the trails as before? I don’t know the reason but we were finding ourselves fighting off the bushes. Luckily we had our poles. I would use my right pole to hold the brush on the right off while I went through on the left. Other times I used my left pole to hold off brush on that side. And sometimes I had to use both poles to clear a path to walk through. But, I still had mesquite and holly grasping at me.
But, you know: that’s the wilderness, that’s hiking, that’s part of the challenge we’re here for. I’m not complaining, I’m just marveling at the tenacity of nature. And, boy, was it tenacious when it got hold of my knit hiking shirt. And was it ever tenacious when it grabbed at my outstretched arm and my legs. And, I kept hearing Gary muttering, ‘ouch’ too. When I took off my hiking shirt at night, I decided that it could be used only for hiking. No walking through the resort, no walking in Des Moines, only hiking.
Lunch was in the shade of a large cliff. Here’s Gary puzzling over the map.
We continued on the trail and found this ‘cache’ from some other hiker or, more likely, a backpacker. It is a common practice to cache your supplies along the trail for use later. Usually, these caches are a bit more hidden so that other hikers or campers won’t find them. This one was dumped right on the trail. Not only was it not hidden but it wasn’t neatly stacked but, as I said, dumped. There are 5 1-gallon jugs of water and 5 small cokes. This much is pretty heavy and we’re thinking that someone on horseback brought it in and dumped it. The receipt with it was very current. And, to add to the mystery, we saw no one else on the trail during the whole day.
Even though we had taken this same trail last year, and despite the fact that we were circling the opposite direction, I really didn’t remember much about it. Of course the views are much different, just as the descent views on a mountain trail are different than those on the assent. On the way up, you’re facing the trail and looking at the way ahead. On the descent, the trail is below you and you’re engaged by the view out over the valleys.
Today, firstly we noticed that the brush was much heavier than last year. Secondly, this year, we were climbing in places where we had descended before and vice versa. All different views. Finally, because we were hiking clock-wise, we had some shade for part of the hike. Shade is good.
We got back to the trailhead and found the sun shining on the nearby hill. Then as we were driving out on the gravel road, as Gary was watching the road, I looked up at the right moment and found this bull posing. He held this position for enough time for Gary to get the camera out and take its picture - several times.
12.4 3126’
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