Mount Baldy, Attempt Two

Saturday, 5:30 AM: Gina and Tim knock on the door of our hotel room. My mom and I snap awake from a dead sleep. Dumb alarm was supposed to go off an hour ago!

It would have helped if I had set it for AM instead of PM. Doh!

We snag some breakfast, load up, and head out for the trailhead of Mt. Baldy. Tim and I are determined to actually get to the top this time, after having just missed it a few months ago, and Gina and my mom are determined not to slow us boys down...

8:15 AM: After taking the wrong road out of Show Low and having to detour 18 miles down a dirt road, we arrive at the trail-head and hit the trail...

9:18 AM: Barely an hour into the hike, and the girls already had to stop for a break and a snack...

My mom also claimed that her feet were swelling, and pulled this odd maneuver in the middle of the trail to reduce it...

The scenery looked pretty much the same as last time, but quite a bit greener and with more wildflowers.

12:18 PM: We make it to the same posts that Tim and I turned around at last time, thinking it was the Indian reservation markers. This time we know better, and take a short break before heading up to the peak.

We were planning on stopping for lunch here. But as we sat down, the clouds got darker and the thunder started rolling. Actually, we had been hearing thunder for quite a while, but it stepped up in intensity as we approached the peak. Instead of having a leisurely lunch, we decided to make a break for the top before we got zapped.

12:40 PM: We make it to the top.

Obligatory self-portrait at the top...

In the picture below, you can see the peak of Mount Baldy in the background. You can't actually hike all the way to the peak without a permit, as it is sacred Indian ground. So we settled for the peak about 1/2 mile to the north, that is nearly the exact same height (11,400 feet) and is actually higher than you can legally climb on Mount Baldy itself. Good enough for me!

What you can't see in the photo is that there were people on top. We could hear them whoopin' and hollerin' from half a mile away. Must have been doing a rain dance or something. Ummmm, thanks guys!

As you can see, the rain dance worked. We spent all of about 5 minutes on top before the rain started turning into hail. Then we skedaddled out of there, getting pelted by pea to marble sized hail. Those suckers hurt when they catch you in the face!

We made our way down the mountain, and out of the hail. My mom wanted to pose by the wing of the airplane wreckage...

We stopped on the way down to enjoy the views (click on it to see it full-size)

At some point on the way down, Tim and I were enlisted as the pack mules. Gina and my mom claimed various war injuries were causing aches and pains, and would we pretty please carry their packs for them? Actually, I had to convince my mom to let me carry hers, because she was bound and determined to carry it herself, even if her shoulder was in pain.

Storm clouds kept threatening the whole way down, but other than a few sprinkles we hardly felt a drop (click on the pic below for full size)

If you recall my post from the last hike, in addition to beating our ankles up in the snow drifts, Tim and I had to jump the 12,436 trees (approximately) that blocked the trail. Since then, the forest service has obviously gone through and cut them all. On this hike, we had to hop zero trees (exactly). Here was a picture from last time...

And this time the same photo looked like this...

A weeeeee bit easier to find the trail in that second photo.

Some penstemon along the trail...

4:03 PM: We finally reach the meadows on the way out and take a break to eat.

4:30 PM: The weary crew makes it back to the car, after hitching a ride back to our car with some kind stranger in a pickup truck.

We made our way back to Show Low, were we found pretty much the best blackberry cobbler ever at Mama Bear's Restaurant, and then collapsed into the beds at the hotel before heading back down to Phoenix Sunday morning.



The post hike analysis?

Tim's GPS > Phil's GPS: Sorry Phil. Thanks for letting us borrow it last time, but you need some better maps on that thing. It helped that we knew were we were going this time, but Tim's GPS also showed us on the trail the entire time.

Things in my backpack I didn't use last time that I did use this time? Rain coat.

Things in my backpack I didn't use last time, still packed the second time, and still didn't use? First aid kit, lighter, fire starter, compass with signal mirror, whistle, extra pair of socks, toilet paper, flashlight, pepper spray, pocket knife, leatherman, handgun. You would think I would learn my lesson...

How my out of shape engineer body survived the second time? Compared to last time, I thought the hike seemed longer, higher, harder, less air, and more painful.

Did the girls slow the boys down? Ummmmmmmmm, no. As much as it pains me to admit it, I think my 83 year old... 75 year old... 63 year old... totally awesome mom is in better shape than I am. I was seriously sucking wind trying to keep up with her. Pretty sad (for me,) but it is true. They both made the 15 some odd miles and 2200 foot climb without hardly a hitch. I was seriously impressed. And humbled...