The Superstitions

Or, let's backpack in a desert heat wave, shall we?

Life has certainly not been boring these last few weeks. After moving to the DC area, I promptly went back to Virginia Beach to “run” the Shamrock half marathon, my first (and likely only) half marathon. And then, a few days later, I traveled to Arizona for an REI women’s backpacking adventure in the Superstitions Mountains. This turned out to be an epic battle with heat and my own self-doubt, but more on the psychological struggles later; it’s been so long since I had an adventure like this that the facts and photos are where we should start.

This trip came about mostly because I wanted to do something different from my typical adventure - I wanted to do a group trip, with women, and most importantly, I wanted someone else to plan it. :) REI adventures seemed perfect for that, and my amazing friend Jessi immediately came to mind as the person to invite along. And she agreed! We had fun sharing our training and prep as we got closer. I tried to keep up the training but the move and the half marathon meant that things got a little derailed toward the end. Still, I was proud of the work I did in advance to prepare.

But it turns out you can’t train for a heat wave. We were supposed to have chilly nights and warmish days. What we got was just hot.

Day 1 involved a long a day of flights to Phoenix and an orientation at the Scottsdale REI. My favorite moment was walking down the sidewalk with our giant packs on, and some guy semi-catcalled us with a “Ladies! Are you on the Amazing Race?” :) After meeting the group, we all went shopping for sun shirts - a fantastic piece of advice from our guides given that it was going to be in the 90s with endless sun. And then back to the hotel to repack our packs for the 17th time and fall into bed with the hope of a good night’s sleep before an early morning.

Day 2 dawned warm, and we took a van out to the Peralta Trailhead, about an hour east of Scottsdale. When we hopped out, the heat suddenly became very real. But the views were promising.

As we got our packs fitted (kicking off some body image issues for yours truly that are a topic for a future post), we also were given a simple white towel and urged to douse it with water and put it around our necks. This towel would become one of the most important pieces of gear on our trip.

Then we kicked off the adventure with a steep little uphill, which our guides assured us stole the breath of even seasoned SAR folks. This was the beginning of the Bluff Springs Trail. Hiking Project calls it “steep and rocky” and we had views of the Weavers Needle as we trudged along. It quickly became apparent that the heat was no joke. I fell behind pretty quickly as the altitude reminded me that I’d trained at sea level. What I remember most from this part of the hike is the wildflowers. The orange buttercups were my favorite, and credit to my fellow hikers for taking pictures; I was just busy trying to breathe.

Photo by Carin.

This day was a struggle. One of my fellow hikers struggled as well, and unfortunately had to head home, which put a bit of a kink in our plans. The whole group hung in the shade of a big rock while the logistics were figured out, and then we continued on with just one guide for 11 women. By this point most of us had our towels draped under our hats to keep the sun from crisping our faces, and those sun shirts…man, they saved us even if it was hot being in long sleeves.

Next we hooked up with the Dutchman’s Trail, and then the Enchantment trail which led us to our first campsite, but not before our guide made an emergency water run because, well, excessive heat. We camped that night at Charlesbois canyon, which was gorgeous. Despite being pretty shredded from the day, I managed to drag out my camera and get a decent sunset photo.

Dinner that night was coconut curry with lentils and sun-dried tomatoes and naan. So tasty. There was not a lot of chitchat around the fire that night - most of us just went right to sleep. It only took me an hour to fall asleep, which is remarkable.

Day 3 began with oatmeal and bacon for breakfast and the glorious prospect of a flatter, hopefully cooler day as we set out early for a ramble out of the canyon.

I love this kind of hiking; rolling hills and winding trails and not a lot of altitude gained. We continued on the Dutchman’s Trail (I think) and onto the Calvary Trail. It was a pretty pleasant morning, and we had a lovely charcuterie lunch under a tree and saw some great views.

Our guide preparing lunch. This photo also by Carin.

Our poor guide had to do some serious blister care for one of the ladies, and that’s when I started to notice that my own feet were starting to grumble.

Battleship Mountain was to our right as we continued on. After lunch things got a little dicey with a very steep and sketchy downhill as we headed into Boulder Canyon and to our “Oh Second Water” campsite. I slipped a couple of times but never fell; all credit to the strength training I’ve been doing to strengthen my core these last months. At the bottom, we met up with our 2nd guide, who’d hiked in from another trailhead, and shared tales of rattlesnakes seen on the trail (I did not see one, thank goodness). The next 1.5 miles should have been easy, but for some reason all the into and out of the washes, and those nagging blisters, got me, and I struggled mightily coming into camp and getting camp set up. It was just so hot and the aforementioned body image issues were really dragging me down. That evening was a low point for me, so much so that I forgot my camera as the sun went down in the valley, but more on that later (I know, you can’t wait!). I did rally a little bit, thanks to the good nature of the ladies in the group; they were a pretty cool bunch of women and I wish we’d had more down time to chat at camp but the heat slowed our pace, for sure. Dinner was chicken and rice, which was less amazing than the night before but still quite yummy. And the sunset was pretty great among the cacti.

Day 4 - I slept badly and was up with the sun and got everything packed early. This time I took my camera down to the valley floor and got some sunrise magic hour pictures while having a nice chat with Jessi and a few other hikers. Breakfast was pancakes and sausages - yum!

This day promised a bit more back and forth over the river before some more uphill.

I can’t remember who took this but it wasn’t me. But it’s such a cool example of one of many river/wash crossings.

I’d worked myself into a state of stress about the climb, but as always happens after a day or two, I started to get my hiking legs under me, and fared pretty well on the uphills. The views were amazing on this leg, as we looked back at the Miner’s Needle and Battleship Mountain.

Grateful to Nicole for snapping this one of Jessi and me!

I loved this day of climbing and hiking; the pack felt manageable, and even though my blisters stung, I felt strong enough to push my pace a little and hang out in the middle of the pack. The views from our various summits reminded me of Angels Landing at Zion, and looking waaaay back to Weavers Needle gave us a nice sense of accomplishment. I think most of this day was spent on the Boulder Canyon Trail, which eventually took us out of the mountains and down to Canyon Lake marina, where the sounds of cars and motorcycles was a rude welcome back to society. The downhill was brutal on our feet and with the sun…by this point everyone just wanted to be done.

Changing out of my sweaty sun shirt and into a fresh t-shirt was fabulous, and our guides prepared us one more amazing lunch at a roadside museum; taco salad and sodas tasted like a 5 star meal after 3 days of drinking filtered water with electrolyte powder. Then it was back to the hotel for a shower and later that night, a yummy Mexican dinner with tequila for Jessi and me.

These experiences are not meant to be easy, and this one wasn’t. There was a lot of wrestling with inner demons going on up in my head, and I may try to write about that later on. But with a week’s distance, and with blisters that have healed, I’m just grateful that I was able to get through it, and grateful for the women on the trip who were quite simply remarkable: accomplished in all professions and life choices, but also quietly kind and supportive. I didn’t feel like we were a particularly chatty group, mostly because it was so hot that we were all just trying to put one foot in front of the other. But 8 of the 12 of us were there solo, and I have so much respect for that. Our guides were amazing; unfailingly positive and supportive and so knowledgeable. And, as we learned about the flora, fauna, and legends of lost gold in the mountains, I found myself marveling once again at the incredible places I get to see in this life of mine.

Pretty sure I owe thanks to Corinne for this one. Love that towel, right? Like most things, I couldn’t wear it fashionably but it definitely saved my skin.