Hiking to Humphrey's Peak

So we started the "Trail to Humphrey's Peak" back in March or so - training up for South America with the culmination being a hike to the top of Humphrey's. So we arrived in Flagstaff last Friday night - eyeballing the mountain and saying, "yeah, it's high, but we'll make it! Yes, I'm AWESOME!"

So we hit the trail around 10 AM on Saturday morning, gasping in the thin air, but ready to climb, climb, and climb some more. We went through a few patches of snow, but thought we should be all right since the trail goes up the Southwest face of the mountain. Ummm, yeah, right. That didn't happen.

After getting caught in a Thundersleet storm, digging our way through non-existant paths in the woods, we gave up after 2 miles or so. (About halfway, we think, but there was no way to tell. Even the two other groups with GPS didn't have any waypoints marked on the trail - they didn't know). With no crampons or hiking poles, we thought this would be the smartest thing to do. We decided to try again in July or August, when the snow should be gone - most likely.

So we climbed back down the mountain, had a nice chat with a KSU grad from 1984 (he noticed the powercat on my hiking hat!), and then proceeding to cook dinner in a downpour back at camp. We stayed dry in our tent, though, and many thanks to Ed for hosting us that evening. We won't have a chance to hike anymore before our trip, but I think with acclimatization in Puno and Cusco we should do OK on the trail.

I plan to post a few pictures of our new roof, but after that you won't hear much until we get back from South America. Then hopefully I'll have LOTS of pics and stories to post.... and lots of time, too, since I won't have a job. Oh well.

Take care and stay cool everybody!

Silent J

This is the start of Humphrey's peak trail, which crosses this meadow and then goes up, and up, and up - to the peak you see in the distance. We didn't make it because of the snow...

This is the highest we got on Humphrey's - somewhere around 10,800 feet. Well below treeline, but we are planning to go back and try again. Here's the question - can YOU find the trail in this picture? We couldn't!

The thunderstorms on Saturday night added a few inches of snow to the tops of the San Francisco mountains. Unusual weather for June in Flagstaff!

Fossil Springs - Our first Backpacking trip!

Our first trip was a success! What better place to spend a hot memorial day weekend than next to a natural spring gushing 1 million gallons of water per hour? I can't think of a better place to go - though the biting bugs and the scorpions were kind of freaking me out.

The trail is 4 miles one way - down into a canyon. Which means you have to hike it right back out when you're done camping. We did really well - 2 hours each way. We hiked down on Saturday, hiked up a side canyon on Sunday, then hiked out on Monday. I was pretty tired after that, but all in all, we felt good about it. Hopefully we do this well on the Inca Trail in July!

Check out the photos below - the whole place was gorgeous, and the cool water felt great in the afternoon. I'll be posting pics from our failed attempt to scale Humphrey's peak in Flagstaff next.

JRW

Travis at our campsite near fossil springs. We were about 100 feet from the stream, but the canyon walls behind us gave us the place to ourselves!

This is at the top of the falls leading to the swimming hole at Fossil Springs. Ah, gorgeous!

Our friend Ed swinging off the rope at the swimming hole - whew that's cold!

Ed living the good life.

This is a shot of fossil creek on our Sunday hike. Everything was so lush and green!

Fossil Creek

A very cool tree along the way - perfect for framing a photo op!

Flashback to Sedona...

Here is a snapshot from our recent hike in Oak Creek Canyon - West Fork trail. It's pretty hard to take a bad photo in Sedona - even when we're in it!