Mt. Baldy Wilderness

I had planned on getting out early that day. I had planned on getting to the trail head by 9am. I had such good intentions. But, you know the saying right, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I made it in a not so timely manner. Getting to the trail head and parked and moving and on our way, yeah… It was 12.30 when we started. Not knowing how long or really how far the trail was, there was no map on the trail head sign, we finally, midday time, started on our journey towards the summit of Mt. Baldy. A mountain that is in the northeast side of Arizona. Next to the ski runs that so many flock to in the winter for downhill skiing and snowboarding. Not to mention the lift rides they do in the fall as a way to be able to enjoy the colours of the trees as winter slowly stirring on, his icey sinew creeping up ever so slowly. In fact, the best time to see the colours is generally, and this is why I love my birthday, the week of or after my birthday. It is the most awe inspiring vision of the colours. We don’t usually have the trees that are purple and red, but, to have a tree drop her golden leaves on you as a light breeze kisses your face, in the warmth of the rays of sun coming through the clouds, makes my heart feel so light. As if I’m walking in heaven and having drops of gold falling all around me…. I digress…

So the day started out slowly enough, but we managed to get us and the dog out there in one piece and ready to go fully loaded and able to take on the wilderness. This is the fourth time I have gone of in search of the summit of this giant. The elevation is higher than normal for me, at 9550 ft. or about 2910.8 meters above sea level. I usually run around 3000 feet lower than that. But I didn’t notice the difference. All I noticed was that it was a hell of a steep hill. And I really am not a huge fan of hills.

For the first two miles or so, the trail followed a stream that earlier this spring had flooded this area and we hadn’t been able to get more than a mile. The grass has grown up a lot and this made for some amazingly stunning photos. You would think I live in Shangri La. The trees had baby blooms on them and the vibrant colours as a result of a wonderfully wet winter looked unreal. As though someone had come along and had done frosted tips on the spruce trees. The trail was winding and I soon noticed that we seemed to be on a trail that I don’t ever remember being on before. I have tried this mountain 4 times, seems this was the side of it I had never started at. Not only did I realize I had no idea where I was at, the trail itself seemed to be barely hang on to the side of the mountain. One wrong step and it could end very poorly for anyone. We passed so many people too. I would say a large church group, father daughter camp day with around 50 people, about a dozen other groups of hikers, all going the other way.

Once the stream was out of sight and we made it to the forested area and began the climb into the trees, we stopped for a break. It was here that I realized I left the trail mix in the car in the hurry to get going. and hour and half earlier. Poopsticks! We had fruit, so there was that to eat, but, the mix would have given more energy with the peanuts and the m & m ‘s. We gave the dog some her treats and let her have more water, she drank a lot from the stream earlier in the hike. It was nice to sit for a few minutes. I noticed there were some trees broken at the base and that seemed strange to me.

Our break didn’t last as long as I would have liked, but miles don’t run themselves and so we continued on our journey upward towards the summit!! I’m much slower at the point than I was when we first set out. We have until 3;30 before we head back and it’s almost half that time and we aren’t as far as I would have liked to have been. I hadn’t noticed the altitude taking it’s tole on me until about that time. I didn’t factor that in and now I was feeling a bit grumpy about that. As we hiked further into the forest, there were many trees it seemed that were down, snapped almost at the base right off. It was strange to see this for sure. The trail was more and more rocky and we seemed to be using some fancy footwork to navigate this region of the mountain. we could start to hear the sound of water every so often and then we would come across a runoff stream that empties into the larger stream at the base of this place. it was easy enough to walk through with no problem for the first two or three. Then we started to get into some more heavily treed area, but many more downed trees as well. Having the dog with us was a stark reminder that we needed to use caution when crossing these logs, I didn’t want to impale my dog as she jumped over these things.

And then we got the part of the stream where the walkway had been washed over and there was only logs across the stream to get to the other side of the trail. I could see hikers coming towards us and as my love took the dog and headed down the slope to cross, I watched as these other hikers came across and tried to see if they were going to have an easier time of it. Not that I have a fear of falling into rushing freezing cold water from the top of a mountain and being beat up by the logs in said stream, I just didn’t want to fall into it. I was able to reach the log they had used, it was much bigger around and seemed to have more area to walk on than the other one did. I walked across the log and we went up just as a group of hikers was coming down. This was a bit treacherous for all parties involved. Luckily my love reached out his hand and took me up the hill before there was any falling.

Up a hill or two we go and by now we are in the snowy area of the mountain and the large group we just passed still seems to be trickling downwards to the bottom. I watch as my love stops for a moment and the last man of this group takes off his sunglasses and a playful English Cockier trots by and reaches out to sniff me. These men shake hands and they being talking. Clearly they know each other and I am introduced. I said hello and they walk away from each other, the gentleman shakes my hand and I say nice to meet you and smile. I had no idea who he was, I couldn’t hear when my lover said his name. He did tell us that it was about a half mile worth of slushy trail, they had walked through it already and had made a walkway passable for others. One person had said that it was another 3 miles to the top of the mountain. It is 3. We have only 30 minutes and there is no way we can make it another 3 miles in that time. We would be lucky if we made it another mile in that time. Onward we trekked.

After what feels like almost thirty minutes, we start to come out of an area that looked like something, an alien maybe, had somehow managed to snap these trees like this yet leaving other trees unscathed. It boggled my mind for sure and I just couldn’t come up with a good theory that could explain it. I would have to make a mental note to ask my dad about it later. Maybe he knows. We come to halt and take another break.

It was here that I looked at our elevation. I had only gone up 1000 feet? it seemed like I had gone up so much further than that. I thought for sure I was near the clouds by now. The clearing we had stopped at had an amazing view. We could see forever it seemed, even looking far enough to see the power plant near Springerville. It was breathtaking for sure. We didn’t stay in this spot for long. I looked down at my phone for the time, don’t know why I didn’t use the watch on wrist, and it was 4;30. WHAT??? How in the fuck did this happen? There is no way we were here for that long, this had to be a mistake. We make a mental note and photograph where we were and start to head down the mountain.

My love had the dog the whole way up this mountain and I had agreed that after we got out of the slippery snow area, I would take the dog. I was leading down the mountain and we were making good time. I would let them know when the trail was a bit wonky and we made haste. See how late it was made me very nervous. I am not prepared to try to traverse this area at night. When it’s cold. He handed the dog off to me and she and nearly ran down the mountain together. I would have to say it was a bit touchy for me in spots with her as she likes to stop in the middle of everything and sniff a pine needle that she hadn’t examined on the way up. This can be bad while running, but, since we were still not actually running, it was okay, but it was highly annoying. The dog and I crossed the stream successfully over a log and that was fun. Sort of.

Once we were out of the tree line and into the more plains area of the hike, we made really really good time. Going down this trail with dog was so easy. She and I do a lot of running together so it was a natural thing the way we had the set up going. I enjoyed the trek down. We passed three different camp sites of hikers we had passed and they smiled and waved as they set up their campsites and we continued downwards. A breeze was beginning to come up and I could tell that if it got dark before I made it to the car, I was going to have to try to make out the trail as best as I can in the dark. It was 7 pm by now and we had traveled 11 miles round trip. I kept thinking that it couldn’t have taken that long to go only 6 miles up today. And yet, here we were, coming to the end of our hike and the parking lot still nowhere to be found. I can tell my feet hurt and I wonder if I am going to have any more sisters like I did from the walk a few weeks prior. It didn’t feel like it, but, these things can be very tricksie. The last hill we came to I was dragging big time. I didn’t think I want to stop for my inhaler but I was getting to the point where I would need to pull it out. I was good about drinking a lot of water and making sure to go easy on my food stores. We had eaten the last piece of fruit an hour and some change ago. I was getting hungry. And then, from the horizon I see asphalt. And the white of a few other cars and then I see Little Green and my heart feels light and happy! Hooray, we finally made it. I stopped my Garmin and it was 11.45 miles. I was spent and dirty and I wanted a shower and to stop walking.

Once on the road home, all I could say it felt so good to not be walking right then. I had missed the top of the mountain by what I later found out was a mile. And once we had gotten back to the car, I discovered that somehow my phone time traveled an hour ahead of the actual time and it wasn’t really 7:30 it was only 6:30. I could have reached the top of the mountain if my phone had been cool and not time traveled an hour extra. Maybe there was a bear and it was going to go kill something and I would have been it’s next meal so fate intervened and kept us safe. Not only that, it really wasn’t aliens that killed the trees like that, it was the Wallow Fire that had done this a few years prior from the extreme heat and down winds that it created. Who knew Mother Nature could be that way. At least, this is what my dad said about it. He would know. He worked the fire.

Overall, I would love to finish this trail one day. It’s going to be a hard hike that requires maybe an overnight pack to get it done. I am willing and I would love to finish this trail one day. I had a lot of fun, but, it’s not an easy trail and I wouldn’t take a young kid with me. Maybe 12 or 13 and they could do it with some training. I need to train more for it as well (as I sit her drinking beer thinking of having left over pizza for dinner). Good times. I slept really well that night too. 🙂