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| Hiking | 12.50 Miles |
2,956 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.50 Miles | | | |
| 2,956 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | After our unexpected surrender the week before, John and I returned with additional forces to take control of this ship once and for all. Any concerns I may have had over the impending battle or hiking with new people were immediately dispelled by Joe thumbing his nose at the fashion police. This was probably the funniest thing I have seen in a while and definitely the last thing I expected. And, humor continued to be the theme of the day...
As we started out, there was some discussion over whose hike this was... Bob proclaimed this as 'my' hike (thus, I would be held entirely responsible for everyone and everything - yikes) and I insisted that it was half his hike, since I invited 2 people and he invited 2 people. The debate continued off and on for the first several miles, during which time we all became so distracted from our original purpose that we went right past our turn-off out of the creek. Well, John didn't. Apparently, he was the only one paying attention to where we were going. Bob and Liz were way out in front and out of sight and I had been hanging on every word while Joe was telling me about the Tule to Peralta trip, so by the time I realized that John was no longer behind me, we were all nearly out of earshot from each other.
What followed this revelation could have been a scene right out of Monty Python. I called out to John - no response. Joe called out louder and we could barely hear John yelling that we missed the trail. Joe turns and yells ahead to Bob and Liz - no response. Joe yells louder and we barely hear Bob yelling, "What?" Joe yells back again even louder that we missed the turn. It was 10 minutes before we were all back together where we were supposed to be. At this point, I would have very much liked to nominate John as new trip leader, but since he was late arriving at the trail head, he had already been disqualified, according to the rules. Before continuing up to the Battleship, Joe settled the matter by dubbing this the "Bobkat" hike and that was the end of it. Satisfied with this, Bob went back to picking on Joe and I gratefully assumed a place closer to the rear of this speeding train.
The trail going up the saddle is pretty well cairned... to a point. About halfway up, the cairns abruptly end and the obvious footpath fades off in every direction, leaving you to find your own way through the rocks to the top. Having learned nothing from the previous 20 minutes, we found ourselves spread out all over the place again and out of sight. The calling out started up again, but was quickly canceled for a lack of any real importance. Since "Up" is a universal concept, we were all going to arrive at the same place, with or without each others company.
After reaching the alcove, we quit goofing around so much and the race to the top was on. I don't want to say who got there first, but it wasn't Joe, Liz, John or myself. At the top we had lunch, debated which of the two peaks was higher, read all the entries in the register (people wrote some pretty weird stuff in that) and agreed that the views on the way up were much better than the view from the top. The peak itself is a very small area in the middle of a huge plateau, which is pretty much all you can see when you look down. I'd compare it to standing at the railing on the deck of an ocean liner looking WAY down at the water vs. sitting in the captain's chair looking down at the deck. No contest.
It was time to head back and we all got up to leave. After sitting in the same spot for an hour, I only took one step before my legs crumpled beneath me and I promptly fell on my face. Since it was immediately obvious that the only injury I sustained while performing this amazing stunt was to my pride, I must give my 4 hiking companions a standing ovation  for resisting such a prime opportunity to die laughing because this was truly hilarious, even from my point of view.
What I learned from this trip:
* Joe is very entertaining and a really good sport. Thanks for all your humor. You made this hike a lot of fun!
* Everything I've ever heard, read or suspected regarding Bob's superhuman speed turns out to be true. I'm not sure he even leaves footprints.
* Liz can completely drop out from the group, waving us all on ahead so she can stop to check in with her Facebook account and then magically reappear in front of us ten minutes later. (I suspect Bob has been teaching her some of that secret Ninja stuff)
* John's endless patience knows no favorites and is always available to anyone in need. What a rock!
* I have previously underestimated the power of cookies and will make it a point to keep some with me at all times.
A great day with great people! 
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| _____________________
I'm at home in the wilderness... it's civilization I have problems with! ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") |
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