H for Humphrey's
Humphrey's peak is the tallest peak in Arizona. It does not mean as much to me as to know that it is a volcanic peak. I began to see the traces of that only after 2/3 of the hike. At one place there were small rocks around the size of a palm and lesser. Pat pointed that to be a result of land slide. The tundra region had rocks. I enjoyed climbing this region more than the rest. It seemed more like play time. The first part gave me the feeling that I was walking in a village with no roads.
At one of the safest places, I just slipped and fell to a slide position. My camera was saved from that fall. It had its share up at the saddle. Its becoming a habit for me and Canon to hit the ground on hikes. The last time, it happened on the Telegraphic Pass Trail. The next time I was getting down that trail, at every tough descent, I would get careful thinking of it as the particular trip point. But each new one seemed as 'That was it' .. The fear point never ends, once it sets in. Its just this one point but I keep expecting it and find it everywhere. Even yesterday, there was this point halfway, which I knew if I crossed, then we were safe after that.
I saw 'Golden columbine' for the first time. Its a yellow flower with white petal like surroundage (I know this might not be right) around it. I even saw small BlueBells.Pat said they are bluebonnets and that bluebell is an icecream. Now I know, he was wrong. That reminds me, I saw this T-shirt on a kid at a movie theatre, last week - "You can agree with me or be wrong." ..hmm..
Once we reached the top we spotted lightning and rain on the surrounding mountains. One of the false peak had the look of red and green you find in a satellite view of a place. There was a light drizzle on our peak. That was a nice turn.
The Humphrey peak hike took us 4 hours to climb up and 3 hours to climb down. The peak was at 12637 ft. I have been to a higher point at Rohtang Pass,13400 ft. (Until I put my set of pictures, lets loan them.)
http://colonelmustard.s5.com/humphreys.htmlI havent heard of igneous rocks in so many years.
I should see the mountain in winter with snow on it. When I read that the mountain was higher before an ancient eruption, I was reminded of the scholastic style in which the change of Alps over years is shown in the 3D movie- 'The Alps'.
Each time I heard of the peak being closed for the winter, I was reminded of 'The Shining.'
Towards the end, we spotted a bride in her wedding dress and her party posing for pictures. They were well dressed enough to make us feel like we were dirty after the hike.
PS: I liked the Carribean salad with mandarin oranges and pineapple.
