{"id":17592,"date":"2022-10-03T11:50:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T17:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/?p=17592"},"modified":"2022-10-04T16:59:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T22:59:30","slug":"saving-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/?p=17592","title":{"rendered":"Saving the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

What a day.<\/p>\n

When I got up in the morning, my two choices were to drive to Arizona for a hike that didn’t interest me, or to revisit a hike closer to home that I’d done only two months ago, and take a branching route that had never interested me. I chose the latter.<\/p>\n

This was my third drive up the west side of the mountains in three weeks. Last week, I’d discovered there’d been catastrophic flooding on the west side that had taken out the canyon trails. Today’s trail didn’t follow a canyon, but the access road did cross the biggest creek in the range. I didn’t think the crossing would be a problem, because the creek had a very wide channel there, and the water level would be low enough for my vehicle by now.<\/p>\n

Approaching the creek, the dirt access road enters a shady sycamore forest, emerging abruptly into the light to descend a steep bank into the creekbed. It’s a good thing I was driving slowly, because the road ended suddenly in a four-foot drop-off, and the creek, which had previously been about 15 feet wide, was now more than 60 feet wide. A huge amount of water had come down, recutting the whole broad channel. I assumed the ranch on the other side of the creek had another access road, because they weren’t going to be using this one for a while.<\/p>\n

Nor was I. My choices of local hikes were rapidly diminishing, and it could be years before most of those trails were salvaged, if ever. I turned around and drove out to the mesa road, where I stopped to ponder my options to redeem this ill-fated day.<\/p>\n

There was really only one that didn’t add a lot of driving. I could continue up the mesa and re-do the hike I’d done only two weeks earlier, that had ended at a swimming hole. I hated to repeat a hike I’d already done so recently. And it would involve a creek crossing that had surely been devastated by flooding, but at least the creek would now be low enough to cross.<\/p>\n

And there was a possible way of putting a new spin on that hike.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
The road into the hidden valley <\/div> <\/div>
\"Hidden <\/a>
Hidden valley ranch <\/div> <\/div>
\"Road <\/a>
Road ends abruptly at four-foot-high dropoff <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9200\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rain <\/a>
Rain clouds gathering as I drive up the mesa to the next trailhead <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The day had started clear and cool, but the forecast was for partly cloudy skies and a chance of rain in town, which meant I had to dress for rain in the mountains. Dark clouds were massing over them as I drove north to the next trailhead.<\/p>\n

And at the bottom of the long traverse into the canyon, I began to glimpse fallen trees and a new debris flow in the bottom. The flood had pushed shattered trees way up the bank on each side.<\/p>\n

I crossed the rushing creek and found a logjam hanging six feet above the current creek level on the other side \u2013 that’s how high the flood had reached here.<\/p>\n

Drifting clouds kept changing the landscape from sunlight to shadow as I climbed the long switchbacks, turned into the long hanging valley, and trudged up the steep trail of loose rock to the little peak at the start of the rolling plateau. There, the broad vista of the western edge of the wilderness spread before me. But it was the ridge in the middle of that view that interested me.<\/p>\n

As I continued east across the plateau, I had my eye on the series of rock outcrops and peaks that punctuated that ridge. For the past two years, on every hike along this trail, I’d dreamed of bushwhacking up that ridge. It seemed to offer views into the deep, rugged canyons on both sides, but it clearly had very steep sides, which would need to be traversed to bypass sheer cliffs, and some of those slopes included dangerous talus.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9204\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"First <\/a>
First canyon in morning shadow <\/div> <\/div>
\"New <\/a>
New debris flow in canyon bottom <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\""Before" <\/a>
“Before” view of creek crossing <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Creek <\/a>
Creek crossing now, after flash flood <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Debris <\/a>
Debris high on the opposite bank <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Logjam <\/a>
Logjam brought down by flood, six feet above current creek level <\/div> <\/div>
\"Flies <\/a>
Flies still bad, even though temperature is in the 50s <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Debris <\/a>
Debris blocking switchback trail on steep slope <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9221\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Equestrian <\/a>
Equestrian lost a shoe here \u2013 they, and one other hiker, preceded me on this trail since the flood <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Steep <\/a>
Steep trail leading to the plateau <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View northeast from the western edge of the plateau. Ridge I’ve always wanted to climb is at right <\/div> <\/div>
\"Some <\/a>
Some kind of blight curls these leaves and turns them bright red <\/div> <\/div>
\"Descending <\/a>
Descending into the hollow at the east end of the plateau, and deciding to finally climb that ridge <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

All summer, while recovering from my illness and finding my lung capacity reduced, I’d avoided the challenge of bushwhacking, while sticking to trails I believed to be in good shape. But today, I was finally in the proper mood. I’d made a false start and the day was too advanced to try one of my marathon trail hikes, so why not go exploring off trail?<\/p>\n

The best approach to the ridge was hard to judge. The north edge of the plateau seemed to lead more or less directly up that ridge, but the lower part of it was densely forested, and that forest could hide a lot of arduous ups and downs.<\/p>\n

Previously I’d assumed the best way up would be to follow the trail to the saddle above the next canyon, then turn left and bushwhack up a low ridge that seemed to lead directly to the higher ridge.<\/p>\n

But now, after descending partway into the hollow below the saddle, I realized the trail would add a lot of distance that I might be able to avoid by taking a short cut from here, completely avoiding the saddle and its low ridge.<\/p>\n

This did involve crossing an intervening gully, and traversing around a rocky bluff, but what surprised me was how quickly I could gain elevation when I didn’t have a trail to follow!<\/p>\n

My lung capacity was still limited \u2013 I had to stop a lot to catch my breath \u2013 but for most of the hike to the ridge, I was just hiking straight up the slope, which varied between 30% and 45% grade. That gets you a lot of elevation, and some great views!<\/p>\n

The rock underfoot was also rapidly changing, from pink to orange to white. I hadn’t thought about it much at the start, but one of those distinctive outcrops became my first milestone, and it turned out to be even more interesting than I’d expected.<\/p>\n

\"Crossing <\/a>
Crossing a gully to reach the foot of the ridge <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9246\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"Starting <\/a>
Starting up the ridge <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Patch <\/a>
Patch of pink rock <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Climbing <\/a>
Climbing another gully toward the ridge <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Partway <\/a>
Partway up, a view of Lookout Mountain <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking back the way I’ve come <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Very <\/a>
Very steep slope I’m climbing as I near the ridgetop <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Fractured <\/a>
Fractured white rock at the ridgetop <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"First <\/a>
First milestone: dramatic rock outcrop <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Just before reaching the big outcrop, I came to a little ledge featuring a couple of wind-sculpted junipers \u2013 a dead one and a live one that offered enough shade for me to rest a while and enjoy a snack.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, continuing toward the first peak of the ridge, I noticed what seemed to be a cave on the up side of the outcrop. Sure enough, some hiker in the distant past had stopped there, accumulating a pile of firewood that seemed excessive, considering no one else had reached this spot in ages.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9262\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Dead <\/a>
Dead juniper above my lunch spot <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9266\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Is <\/a>
Is that a cave? <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9268\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9269\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View from rock shoulder behind the cave <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9275\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Continuing <\/a>
Continuing up the ridge, toward that little peak <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The peak I reached afterward had some great views of storms developing over the region, but it was only a temporary stop. I had my eye on two little peaks higher up that blocked my way to the long “hogback” in the middle of the ridge, which bore an attractive fringe of tall ponderosas.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the first of those two little peaks turned out to consist completely of talus \u2013 large, sharp, loose rocks \u2013 colonized by dense thickets. And while I was fighting my way through that, a light rain began to fall. Hanging to the branches of shrubs on that perilous talus, way up in the sky, I climbed precariously to within a few yards of the peak, then scouted a few dozen yards to left and right for an easier route around, only to conclude it was just too dangerous to continue.<\/p>\n

My way up the ridge was blocked.<\/p>\n

\"View <\/a>
View west from the climb up the ridge. Haystack Mountain, which I climbed on a much longer bushwhack last year, is at far right <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View south <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Aiming <\/a>
Aiming next for that little peak at left <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View north into the first canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Hard <\/a>
Hard going through dense scrub, to reach that little peak <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Literally <\/a>
Literally pulling myself up the talus by the branches of little shrubs <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The little peak itself, and no safe way around <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Panorama <\/a>
Panorama west from the little peak – you can barely see my big rock outcrop now, in shadow just left of center <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

I hadn’t gained the desired view into the big canyon to the north, but I wasn’t really disappointed to turn back. I’d bushwhacked over a mile on steep slopes, climbing a thousand feet above the trail, discovering a shelter cave. Not too shabby for an old guy recovering from a long hospitalization.<\/p>\n

As I scanned the landscape around me, I noticed a flash of white farther down the ridge \u2013 it was a white-tail deer bounding from rock to rock, mostly hidden behind tall scrub oak. I was really surprised to see it atop this steep, rocky ridge \u2013 not typical deer habitat.<\/p>\n

\"More <\/a>
More outcrops below the big one – and a possible cave in the middle? <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Another <\/a>
Another cave, but I won’t go there today <\/div> <\/div>
\"From <\/a>
From the rise above the big outcrop, scouting my route down, with plateau trail below at left <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rain <\/a>
Rain in the mouth of the first canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

I fought my way down to the rise above the rock outcrop, and paused for a few minutes to consider my return route. The way I’d come up was known, but there was also the possible route to my right, down the arcing extension of the ridge I stood on, which seemed to connect to the rolling plateau in an area of dense forest and shrubs whose topography was unclear. It was a hard choice, but in the end my mood spurred me into the unknown.<\/p>\n

The first part of it, down an open slope of grass and low shrubs, went incredibly quickly \u2013 I could even run down in some places. But when I reached the trees, it got more complicated.<\/p>\n

I somehow managed to avoid gullies, but near the bottom, I found myself in open forest blocked by a maze of scrub oak, mountain mahogany, and manzanita that I just had to push through for a long distance, trying to hang onto my sense of direction to avoid missing the plateau.<\/p>\n

Hence it was a big relief when the shrubs suddenly opened ahead of me, revealing a cairn and the plateau trail.<\/p>\n

\"From <\/a>
From partway down my return route, a look back up the first canyon and the little peak I climbed, above at right. I’d originally hoped to reach the base of that sharp peak in background. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Little <\/a>
Little ferns surprise me on this exposed rock slope <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Slopes <\/a>
Slopes of pale rock resist vegetation and appear heavily eroded <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Approaching <\/a>
Approaching a maze of scrub that blocks my way to the plateau <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lush <\/a>
Lush vegetation on the lower slope <\/div> <\/div>
\"Maze <\/a>
Maze of scrub oak in open ponderosa forest <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Maze <\/a>
Maze continues <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Finally, <\/a>
Finally, the trail! <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Clouds were still moving all over the landscape, alternately threatening rain or highlighting slopes and rock formations, as I returned across the plateau. And the flies, which had deserted me up on the high ridge, began to swarm me again.<\/p>\n

\"Looking <\/a>
Looking back from the trail to the ridge I climbed – a thousand feet higher, with the little talus peak just right of center <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Zooming <\/a>
Zooming in on aspens in fall color, near 10,000′ elevation at the head of the first canyon <\/div> <\/div>
\"Peak <\/a>
Peak to the south briefly lit by a gap in clouds <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"My <\/a>
My ridge, also briefly lit <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Fall <\/a>
Fall wildflowers <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

About a third of the way down the switchbacks into the first canyon, some serious rain began to fall, but it cleared before I reached the bottom. And the climb out of the canyon to the trailhead, which usually finds me sore and exhausted, seemed a lot easier than usual.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t remember a recent hike that had made me this happy.<\/p>\n

\"Flies <\/a>
Flies finding me again <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Meadow <\/a>
Meadow in the hanging valley <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rain <\/a>
Rain on the descent into the first canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Now <\/a>
Now the rain’s up at the head of the canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"And <\/a>
And now it’s clear again <\/div> <\/div>
\"Storming <\/a>
Storming in the west <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9371\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a day. When I got up in the morning, my two choices were to drive to Arizona for a hike that didn’t interest me, or to revisit a hike closer to home that I’d done only two months ago, and take a branching route that had never interested me. I chose the latter. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,60,105,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hikes","category-mogollon-mountains","category-rain","category-southwest-new-mexico"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/IMG_9262.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17592"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17680,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17592\/revisions\/17680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}