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Y2K came without a glitch...well, sort of. The good news is
that the world did not come to an end. The electricity stayed on, the
telephones still work, the computers still operate, my bank account still has
a balance, and there weren't any terrorist attacks. A lot of people, who had
run out to hoard food and buy generators in anticipation of a New Year's Eve
disaster, looked pretty foolish the next morning. (My apologies, but I have to
laugh at these folks, because I firmly believe that they panicked over
nothing. It was really quite humorous to see them piling non-perishables in
their shopping carts on New Year's Eve, and it was even more so to hear that
some of them remained in their "bunkers" until Monday morning!)
Nonetheless, despite the warnings that a Y2K meltdown was eminent and that
terrorists were planning on blowing up every major city on the face of the
globe, John and I still managed to have a happy new year, confident that
nothing bad was going to happen. We spent New Year's Eve at Skydive Arizona in
Eloy, where John was planning to do the midnight jump to usher in the new
millennium.
For us, the big glitch came during the midnight New Year's jump. A group of 40
people, including John, boarded the DC-3 at 11:40 p.m. It took off twenty
minutes late, so the plane only managed to reach an altitude of 10,500 feet
before midnight. Although the spot was good, nearly all of the jumpers ended
up landing in the desert behind the landing area - the landing area was
brightly lit by headlights, but the desert was very dark. As a result, John
had a very hard landing, but with "dumb luck" he walked away uninjured. His
friend Dale, however, broke both of her legs. She had to be airlifted to Good
Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, where she underwent surgery the next morning.
We didn't learn that she had been airlifted out until the next day, after we
had already driven to the Casa Grande Hospital to see if she had been
admitted. (They, of course, had no record of her, so we decided to ask around
at the Drop Zone - someone there was bound to know something.) Once we knew
where she was, we decided to visit her Sunday afternoon, after she had had a
chance to rest a bit.
In the meantime, John and I decided to spend Sunday morning hiking - something
we had not done in a long time. Knowing that we were going to be terribly out
of shape, we opted to do something easy that day: the
Pine Creek Loop and
parts of the Ballentine Trail. Our plan was to start out at 8:00 a.m., hike
until 11:00, then turn around and be back at the car by 2:00 p.m., at which
time we would drive back to Phoenix and go see Dale in the hospital.
The day of our hike came, and wouldn't you know it, but there was another "Y2K
glitch": it started raining! Not the least bit discouraged, John and I piled
our equipment into the car and started driving towards the trailhead in hopes
that the rain would stop or lighten up before we got there. (And, in case it
didn't, we brought our rain gear with us, because one way or another we were
going to go hiking that day!)
Naturally, it was still raining when we reached the Ballentine Trailhead. We
were reminded of Easter Sunday, when John and I hiked the same trail during a
freak snowstorm. We learned a valuable lesson that morning: never hike the
Pine Creek Loop on a Sunday during a holiday weekend, because the weather will
be lousy. Nonetheless, we decided to hike anyway, taking with us only one
camelback instead of two, because we weren't planning to hike for very long.
Due to the rain, we were going to be back at the car by lunchtime.
We began our hike a little after 8:00 a.m., taking the clockwise loop because
it is easier. Despite the ease of the trail, though, our hike started out very
slow and labored because John was having problems with his leg, possibly due
to his rough landing on New Year's Eve. We were forced to stop periodically so
that he could rest, so it took us over an hour to reach the junction with the
Ballentine Trail, a 1.75 miles away. During the first hour of our hike, the
rain finally stopped, however, the gray clouds overhead were a sure sign that
they would not be gone for long. With that window open, though, we had a
chance to hike part of the Ballentine Trail, which gave us an opportunity to
explore a new place. And, in my opinion, the Ballentine Trail is one that
deserves further exploration...during nicer weather! Though we were only able
to see the first mile of the trail, what we saw was very interesting. The
terrain surrounding the trail is very rocky, with large and small boulders
scattered about the desert landscape. One in particular caught my eye: it was
a rectangular shaped boulder, standing upright. On top of it was a small round
boulder that looked like its "head"! The whole thing looked as though it would
fall over in the first wind, but it has probably been standing there like that
for hundreds of years.
We continued along the trail, hiking constantly uphill, for about a half an
hour, during which time it began to rain again. The rain, as well as my
morning sickness, became very frustrating, and I finally announced that I
would like to turn back. John, however, was doing much better as the pain
finally subsided from his leg. Though he would have liked to hike longer, he
agreed with me that it was time to hike back to the car.
Hiking downhill proved to be almost as challenging as going uphill. The rain
had made the rocks on the trail very slippery, and as a result we had to hike
with caution to prevent ourselves from falling. (One bad fall for me would
have been VERY bad for the baby.) Fortunately, we managed to do this without
any accidents.
After we made it back to the trail junction, we decided to finish the Pine
Creek Loop, thus completing a five-mile day. Once we crested the hill, it was
all downhill again as the trail switchbacked rather steeply back to the
trailhead. It continued to rain on us the entire time, meaning that we were
not going to have any "naked" time. We opted to wait until we got home to deal
with those urges, because it was too cold and wet outside to be naked!
It was nearly lunchtime when we returned to the car. We ate our sandwiches and
orange slices as we drove back into town that afternoon. We were disappointed
that we weren't able to hike longer, that we couldn't enjoy our lunch out in
the wilderness somewhere, but, having been unable to go hiking for over a
month, to have had that short adventure - our first of the year - was
wonderful. |
