Easter Road Trip

After writing this story of going on a 4 day backpacking trip across southern Arizona and New Mexico, I was reminded of a conversation I had a few months ago with a guy I went to high school with. He asked me, “What do ya’ll do in Arizonia?” I responded with, “Well, I like to go hiking a lot.” He asked, “You mean you climb on top of mountains?” I said, “Yeah, something like that.” “Why’d you want to do somethern like that fer?” The conversation ended there. Anyway, I decided that on this particular trip I needed to get away by myself for a while and find some mental clarity. I was going out a lot in Tucson and drinking a lot….well, not as much as some of you are used to from me, but a lot for a 24 year old with a somewhat respectable job. I was also not feeling the same after being in Las Vegas for a few days and downing $425 bottles of vodka. I don’t know how entertaining this story will be for you and it’s long, so if you’re bored, go ahead and read on about my Easter vacation.

On Thursday, I visited Tombstone and Bisbee on my way to the Chiricahua Mountains to camp. I visited Big Nose Kate’s saloon to get Marianne hot sauce and to have a beer. I liked the bartender. He was in his late 20’s and dressed up as a cowboy, of course. I don’t think he is from Arizona or maybe he has just never left Tombstone. We were talking about the desert heat and he mentioned something about going to “Pima” once but he had never been anywhere else. I was a little puzzled at where to bring this rousing conversation next so I told him that I better get on my way but before I leave Tombstone I better have a shot of tequila. The bartender got a big smile on his face and spun an automatic tequila shot pourer around showing the various bottles attached. I told him to just give me the worst, cheapest tequila he had. After my shot and beer I decided that it would be a good idea to visit a sales lead that I had in Tombstone. I found the guy conducting mining tours and almost turned around because it didn’t seem to be worth my time. I decided to talk to him anyway and it turns out he is the former mayor of Tombstone and is going to take me around to the guy that owns all the bars and possibly set them up with security systems. Go figure. I drove on to Bisbee and walked around the town a little. Bisbee is a great small, historic mining town minus all the sketchy hippies and teenagers. I wandered around a little and stopped in a bookstore but didn’t find anything interesting to purchase. From there, I headed toward my final destination for the day in the Chiricahua Mountains. As the sun started to set behind the Dragoon Mountains, I was on my way driving straight up the mountain to my campsite. There was a designated campsite and then random spots to camp along the road. I was surprised to find the one at the very top available. I quickly pitched my tent and started a fire. My vacation had started.

When I woke up Friday morning, I took a hike on a nearby trail to the top of the mountain I was camping on called Johnson Peak. It was a pretty tough 2.5 miles straight up hill. I was surprised to be as tired as I was so I climbed on top of a large boulder, ate an apple and orange, and checked out the view. When I returned from the hike, the time read “9:00am” so I packed up and headed toward Silver City. I arrived in Silver City about 2.5 hours later, starving. It was a pretty big city but nothing really excited me about it. I drove around for a little while trying to find the “Silver City Brewing Company” that I had found online because I wanted to eat there and try one of their homemade beers. I eventually found it but it didn’t open until 3pm. Fortunately for me, New Mexico is an hour ahead of Arizona. I still had an hour or so to kill so stopped by the park ranger’s office to find out where to go hiking and he told me that there are 1500 miles of hiking trails available. He told me to go up to the Gila Wilderness to find the best hikes or even stop along the way and hike/camp. It was almost 3pm so I drove to the brewery for a bite to eat. To my disappointment the brewery resembled a small pizza place and didn’t look like too many people visited it. I took a seat at the bar and ordered their Amber selection. It was actually really good. The bartender informed me that the beer was actually made by a larger brewery that distributes the beers to places like this. I talked to the bartender and another guy that was in there from Dublin, Ireland until I finished my beer then I took off. I decided to go to a health shop that I had seen earlier called “Messiah’s.” I ordered a terrific homemade veggie burger with avocado. After lunch, I made a quick tour through the historic downtown of Silver City. It was great. There were a bunch of little café’s, restaurants, and little shops. I also saw the birthplace of Billy the Kid…so exciting. It was just a small log cabin on the corner of a busy intersection with a sign that read “Birthplace of Billy the Kid.” It was getting late so I started heading toward the Gila Wilderness. The road that lead there was a very narrow, winding road that weaved its way through the trees that covered the mountains. It felt like I was just driving through a forest. I became tired from all of the curves fast so after about 15 miles, I pulled into a campsite that read, “Meadow Creek,” hoping to find a nice campsite next to a river. Instead, I parked my car and climbed up a very steep, rocky hill to a plateau that was about 3/4 mile in circumference. It seemed that I had the whole plateau to myself. I set up camp, started a fire so I could tell where my campsite was, and wandered around the forest. The forest must have recently burned down because there were charred remains of trees everywhere and the forest wasn’t very thick. I watched the sun set, behind the thick clouds overhead, then stared at the fire until I felt like going to sleep. I awoke in the early morning to a small rain shower but it only lasted a few minutes so I went back to sleep.

When I awoke Saturday morning, I started the fire again to get warm and have some tea and fruit. I decided to go for a hike to a peak that I had been eyeing the night before. I figured out my location and the location I was heading with my compass because I didn’t plan on there being a trail. I started down from my plateau and out of the campsite and to my surprise I came across a trail that seemed to lead right where I was going. The trail lead to just below the peak then circled around it and kept on going further away. I wanted to go to the top of the peak but stayed on the trail to see where it went to. I saw some type of cat feces on the trail and wondered if it was from a bobcat or mountain lion. Since my experience with cat turds is limited to domestic cats I really had no idea what it was. I also saw large, deep footprints that seemed to lead the way on the trail I was following. I thought they were bear footprints until I noticed the horse shoe marks in the softer ground about a mile later. I was disappointed and relieved at the same time. I passed through a couple of areas that had patches of snow that remained from the winter. It was about 65 degrees but the shade from the mountains must have preserved it. The trail seemed to go on with no destination so I turned around and headed back to my intended peak destination. The peak was surrounded by a lot of dry, prickly brush so I only managed to make it up to a small rock face. The view from the rock face was still good enough for me. I could see 30 miles north to the Gila Wilderness where I was going to be headed. There were lots of mountains and large canyons, which held a lot of potential. I had a small snack and went back to my plateau to pack up and get on the road again. The drive to the Gila Wilderness was worse than I had thought. There were even more winds in the road and lots of U-turns. It took me about an hour to go 30 miles. I went directly to the visitor center to find out where to go. My goal was to find an easy 3 or 4 mile hike to a river with the option of hiking to the top of a peak for the sun set. I was also curious about the hot springs in the area. I also specified that I didn’t want to see any other hikers. I decided on a 6.5 mile hike to the popular, “Jordan Hot Spring.” The old man at the center told me that nobody would be there so like an idiot, I trusted the guy that has probably never set foot outside the visitor center. I made a quick call on a pay phone to the two of you to tell you that if this place turned out to be amazing, I was going to stay an extra night. I had to ask the operator for instructions since the last time I used a pay phone was probably when I was 10 in Califon, NJ where I would ride my bike downhill the whole way and then call my parents for a ride home! The parking lot for the trailhead was pretty crowded but I figured all the cars were for the nearby campsites. The first 2 miles of the hike were along a ridge that overlooked 100’s of miles of wilderness – it was beautiful. I found that I got tired within those first two miles because I packed about 2 gallons of water because I didn’t buy iodine tablets to purify the water and because of the 5 mile hike I went on that morning. My shoulders were not up to the challenge of carrying 45 pounds. They sent shots of pain through my nerves with each step to remind me of their discomfort. I eventually came to a saddle that marked 4 more miles left. This part of the hike was great too. The trail took me through a canyon with a small, trickling stream. The canyon walls got more and narrower as I was going until they were about 10 yards apart. I finally arrived at the river that I was supposed to cross 15 times. The bank of the river was occupied by a family with about 8 kids and 4 dogs. I’m not a fan of the people that bring their dogs on hikes but if I were a dog person I probably would too. 2 dogs attacked me as I approached and before I was able to connect with a boot to the snout, a woman apprehended the creatures. I was very irritated but the woman was nice and told me how wonderful the springs were. She also gave me some helpful advice about the hike. Her kids stared at me with disillusionment as I crossed began to cross the river. I don’t know how else to describe the looks on their faces, it was almost eerie. I made it across without falling so the woman cheered me on as I waved my arms in triumph. The 15 crossings were very difficult because my legs were so tired that I could barely stand up and on top of that I had to fight the current of the river. My walking stick helped me regain my balance on a few near fatal falls. I say “near fatal” because had I fallen into the river and gotten all of my gear wet I probably would have just given up and let it sweep me away into oblivion. Not really, mom – just a little dark sarcasm for you. I passed a few people camping so I knew that I was getting close. I just hoped the campsites by the springs would be empty. Of course, they were not. There were only 3 campsites near the hot spring and 2 were taken. They were all pretty far away from each other so it wasn’t that big of a deal. I set all my stuff up once again and boiled water to add to my Katmandu Curry trail dinner that I brought. A hippie couple passed by as I was sitting by the fire and I really liked them. They were very quiet and seemed really nice. I would have rather had no people there at all but I didn’t mind them being around, I actually kind of liked it. I put my swimming shorts on and headed up to the hot spring, which was lofted above the trail about 50 yards from my campsite. The hot spring was quite large, about 30 feet by 20 feet and it had a little waterfall that brought the warm water down from the mountain. The spring is proof of the volcanic activity that caused the formation of the mountains in the Gila Wilderness. The spring was only about 90 degrees but it was nice enough and had a great view. There were two people in the spring when I arrived. I said, “Hello” and got a strange stare from the ugly guy that was in there. He continued to stare at me as he slowly crept to the other side of the spring. I could tell he was up to something so as I prepared to get in I kept glancing over to see what he was up to. I saw him reach for a woman’s swimsuit and slowly return to where he was. The woman was hidden by a tree but it was obvious what had been going on before I came up. “That’s just great” I thought to myself as I sunk my head in disgust and slowly merged myself into the water – “Two ugly old people tainting my hot spring.” I was really dirty so I had to get in and clean off. I got in and sat under the waterfall where all the fresh water came from so I felt safe from any infectious old person diseases. The water felt really nice after that long hike and the view of the mountains from the spring just added to it. I noticed the empty Tecate beer cans laying near the couple’s clothes and reenacted the sleazy advances the guy must have made before my arrival. After about 5 minutes I felt sufficiently clean and awkward so I dried off with the shirt I had been hiking in for the past 3 days and went back to warm up by my fire. I read a little of a book that I brought and then went to sleep early.

I think I was the first one up the next morning because I couldn’t hear anyone and there was no movement at my hippie friends’ site. I ate breakfast and packed my stuff up. I went back up to the springs to take a few pictures and found it occupied by a bunch of high school to college aged kids talking about smoking marijuana, taking shits, the usual absurdity. I was only able to take a few pictures because I didn’t want any of the kids ruining my shots. I grabbed my pack from my campsite, waived farewell to my friends across the way, and jumped into the river on route out of the wilderness. The hike out wasn’t nearly as difficult as the hike in but it was still no picnic. I made it out around 1pm New Mexico time. I knew it would take me an hour to get back within cell phone distance so I could call Marianne and let her know I wasn’t staying another day. Since I had time, I thought I had better check out the highlight of the wilderness – the Gila cliff dwellings. I paid the $3 entry fee and got the history of the dwellings from the old man that seemed to be running the show. He told me the dwellings had been there for 10,000 years and were made by the Mogollons. They were only used for about 24 years, and then abandoned. When the Navajo Indians came in, they thought they were made by the Gods so they didn’t go near them. When the Spaniards came in, they raided the dwellings, and then named the area and the people that must have built the dwellings after their officer at the time, Mogollon. How sweet of them. As I toured through the dwellings, it was apparent that I had just been adopted by a large Mexican family. There were about 20 of them and one was video taping the whole event. I’m sure they are watching it right now thinking, “Who is that guy with us?” I walked along next to another ranger and he gave me a little more history on the dwellings and then he made me sniff a tree. It turns out that Ponderosa Pine trees smell like butterscotch. As I was leaving, the original ranger that told me the history of the dwellings caught me and told me to check out another site that was nearby. I think he liked me because I was the only person who paid attention to him and acted interesting in the dwellings. The site he sent me to was another cave dwelling just outside of a campsite. The cave dwellings I toured were primarily used for religious purposes and the one he sent me to was most likely used as a home. It was getting late so I got back in my car and drove toward Silver City. I drove through the historic area again to make sure I experienced it all and then head back in the direction of Tucson. I decided that I wasn’t dirty enough and needed a 4^th night in the wilderness so I drove down a very bumpy and painful to my car dirt road to the backside of the Rincon Mountains 40 miles outside of Tucson. As I was setting up my tent and starting the fire, I felt like an old pro that had done it millions of times before. I really felt like a woodsman, it was great. I sat by the fire with my thoughts for a while. Then all of a sudden a yellow scorpion came out of the rocks near the fire, nearly crossing over my feet. I panicked a little and got my headlamp to keep an eye on him. He sat on the edge of a rock for a while, and then went back under. I figured he had enough of the fire so I put my feet back on his stone. A couple of minutes later, he darted out again next to my feet. After another close encounter I decided to retreat to my tent for the night. There was a large wind storm during the night that shook the tent for a few hours. It was nice to listen to and get jarred around inside the tent.

I awoke the next morning feeling dirtier than I have ever felt. My feet were black and my hands were callused, scarred, and brown from dirt. There was black dirt caked in my fingernails and all the way around my cuticles. “Cuticles.” I doubt that word gets added into many stories. I wondered just how much that hand sanitizer that I was using was really helping. I packed my stuff up one final time and took off for Tucson where a clean shower and comfy bed awaited me.