Box Camp Trail, June 2016
Because of several physical issues,
I have not been able to hike with my friends since April.
Hope to be back on the trail by the fall. — kenne
Archive for the ‘Hiking Trails’ Tag
Missing Out On Hiking This Summer 2 comments
Forgotten The Way By Which I Came 1 comment
Sabino Creek Near Hutch’s Pool — Panorama by kenne
I wanted a good place to settle:
Cold Mountain would be safe.
Light wind in a hidden pine —
Listen close — the sound gets better.
Under it a gray-haired man
Mumbles along reading Huang and Lao.
For ten years I haven’t gone back home
I’ve even forgotten the way by which I came.
— Gary Snyder
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It Always Seems Impossible . . . 1 comment
Art by kenne
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Things of Poetry, Revisited 4 comments
“Things of Poetry” — Computer Art by kenne
Things of Poetry
Poppies
line the canyon trail,
brightening
each hiker’s way.
Passing greetings
share the joy
as the morning sun
intensifies
the canyon colors
brilliantly reflected
by each poppy,
the things
of O’Keeffe —
real poetry.
— kenne
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Death On The Trail Leave a comment
Death On the Trail — Image by kenne
This towering Saguaro, close to forty feet, fail across a trail near the Sabino Creek Dam. This big fellow had no arms even though it had to be well over 100 years old. There were no signs of disease so it may have just gotten too big for its root system.
kenne
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The Hiker 2 comments
The Hiker — Image by kenne
Further on down the trail
the hiker moves on knowing
life carries him from unknown
to unknown yet a master of destiny.
The hiker prevents the routine
from concealing nature’s secrets
even when the trail’s challenges
come face to face with suffering.
For the hiker, easy and difficult
hikes can all have the same face
until environmental factors cross
the path creating new challenges.
— kenne
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Bad Day On Lemmon Rock 5 comments
Pusch Ridge Wilderness — Image by kenne
BAD DAY ON LEMMON ROCK
The wilderness area of the Santa Catalina Mountains
provides many beautiful vistas, large majestic
rock formations and several challenging hiking trails.
For the start of the fall hiking season,
the naturalists scheduled a hike starting
at the highest point atop Mount Lemmon.
In a prologue to frost and early fall colors,
we arranged a shuttle car at Marshall Gulch
so not to double back the six and a half mile hike.
Having led this hike two months ago,
it combines four trails leading down into and out
of the Pusch Ridge Wilderness to Marshall Gulch.
Beginning on the Mount Lemmon trail,
we follow a forest service road through
upper mountain meadows to the Lemmon Rock trail.
The two rocky trails provide a steep 1,800 foot drop
through tall pines on rocky slopes lined with thorny shrubs
with an occasional cairn marking the many switchbacks.
However, cairns are of little help if I misread
a marker and attempts to create my own trail
down an even steeper rocky slope.
Taking a wrong turn at a trail marker,
which was about an hour into the hike,
was the beginning of my bad day on Lemmon Rock.
It quickly became apparent my pace was too fast
for the rocky slope I was proceeding down, planting
my right foot so to begin a slide, only to twist my ankle.
The pain told me this was not a slight twist of the ankle —
Oh SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! Holding back additional profanity,
I quickly started getting up, checking out the damage.
Anyone who hikes with me knows I usually
have my four pound camera/lens on
the left shoulder, which I balance with the left hand.
Not this time, since I was wearing
a center-body camera harness —
for the first time not focusing on saving my camera.
In pain, I did a four-point crawl up to the trail
after answering some ankle movement questions
from a fellow hiker, a retired foot doctor.
Continuing to walk on the rocky trail was difficult —
generating expressions of concern from everyone,
some checking their backpacks for an ankle wraps.
Someone had a velcro Ace bandage,
without which I would not have been able
to continue the remaining five miles to the gulch.
The ankle wrap was a blessing, but having now
given the experience more thought, although a steep climb,
the shorted hike would have been back up to the top.
We live and learn, or do we?
Would I hike five miles again on a sprained ankle?
I hope I never have to face the question.
How, here I sit with my wrapped
black and blue swollen ankle iced down —
guess I won’t be hiking again soon.
kenne
Sprained Ankle — Image by Jeff
