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Sadly, my days of hiking "ball-buster" trails are over for
now. As I neared the end of my fourth month of pregnancy, the "pregnant belly"
seemed to pop out overnight, telling the world "Guess what! There's a baby in
here!" And, on top of that, I had just reached the stage where the baby began
to remind me daily that he or she is in there by giving me a gentle kick in
the stomach every now and then. It is an exciting time for John and me, but
along with that came the realization that my condition was going to slow down
my pace.
After having spent a nice day at the Renaissance Festival Saturday afternoon,
John and I decided to spend Sunday hiking in the Mazatzals, via the
Little
Saddle Mountain Trail #244 - a 3.5 mile long trail from Sunflower to Little
Saddle Mountain in the Mazatzal Wilderness Area. The trail ends at a trail
junction, where several different trails branch off, one of which continues
all the way to the top of Mount Peeley.
Of course, in order to hike the trail, one must find the trailhead. According
to the literature we had read, the Cross F Trailhead is located along Highway
87, just north of Sunflower. John pinpointed it on the topographical map and
programmed the coordinates into the GPS so that we wouldn't have a problem
finding it. The exact location, however, is deceiving, as we came to find out
that day. After parking the van directly across from the trailhead (though we
didn't know it at the time), John and I crossed SR 87 and proceeded towards
the side roads. We thought that, like some of the other trails we had hiked,
the trailhead would be located at the end of a dirt road. This time, there
were two to choose from. The first road, though, led us into private property,
owned by a DPS officer; and the second didn't lead us anywhere.
Getting frustrated, I suggested that we walk down the highway until we found
the trailhead. And guess where we found it: directly across from the van was
the trailhead, located right next to the highway and marked with signs.
Our hike began on a narrow footpath that followed along the fence line, which
bordered a creek - this creek had several pools of water. A bit further down
the path, the trail began to ascend towards a pass. A half a mile in, the
trail junctions with the Sunflower Trail #344, which goes off to the left. We
continued along the Little Saddle Mountain Trail, which took us uphill until
we reached the pass. From there, it began to descend towards the creek as we
headed into a drainage. I found that this part of the hike was rather easy and
especially pretty as it passed through the drainage, crossing the creek at
several points along the way. We also found many nice campsites there, as well
as pools of water from which one could filter.
Then, as we left the drainage, we began to hike uphill again as the trail
ascended and followed a ridgeline for the rest of the hike. It was here that
the trail became very steep and rocky, with many big "step-ups" that hurt my
belly. I found myself in tears because I was in pain and I was afraid that I
had hurt the baby in some way. We had to stop for a long time so that I could
rest my sore muscles.
When I was ready to go again, John suggested that we turn around and return to
the trailhead. I knew, however, that if we did so, he would be upset that we
didn't get to finish the trail (that had been happening to us a lot lately)
and I would be upset at myself for not being able to finish. So I told him
that we could keep going until we reached the end of the trail.
As the trail continued along the ridgeline, some spectacular views opened up
before us. Though we weren't very high up in the Mazatzals, it felt as though
we were on top of the world, because we could see for miles and miles - in
fact, we could even see Pinnacle Peak off in the distance. It was an
impressive sight.
After one last steep jaunt, we finally made it to the end of the trail. We sat
down on a makeshift bench made of old fallen logs and ate our sandwiches.
Then, John went off and explored by himself along an old jeep road that led to
the Mormon Grove Trailhead - another trailhead found along Highway 87 (this
one can be found near the road that leads to Mount Peeley).
The return trip, of course, was much easier as most of it was downhill, but
this time, it was against the wind, too, because soon after we left the end of
the trail, the winds began to pick up. Above us, the skies began to cloud
over, threatening of rain. Having had a dry winter, we were hoping for some
rain, but not while we were hiking! Fortunately, it didn't start raining until
later in the week, so we were able to keep dry.
Along the way, as we passed through the drainage, we found a deer grazing on
the opposite side of the creek - that was the first deer of the year for us!
It always makes the trip worthwhile to see things like that.
We made it back to the van at 2:30 in the afternoon; our adventure over, we
drove back to Phoenix to spend the evening relaxing and watching The Simpsons. |
