With less than five months left before
our wedding, John and I decided to plan a trip to Flagstaff so that we could
meet with our caterer (who was also in charge of booking the Elk's Lodge for
the wedding). We had a ton of questions for him that we needed to have
answered right away so that we wouldn't have to worry later on. Instead of
making it a day trip, we invited John's parents to join us and made it into
our first camping trip of the year, complete with hikes and explorations.
Of course, it wasn't the usual "camping" that we were used to. For one, we
would all be staying in the new motor home, largely due to the fact that it
was going to be very cold overnight in the forest. (It would even be too cold
to sleep in the van in our new semi-mummy sleeping bags, which are rated at
20°F.) That also meant that we would have to be very quiet during sex so as
not to disturb his parents or to rock the motor home.
We left for Flagstaff at 6:30 Saturday morning and arrived shortly after 8:30.
Our first stop was the Elk's Lodge so that we could show Bill and Erika the
wedding site. Despite the fact the staff was setting up for another function
that was to take place that day, we were allowed to walk around and inspect
the reception hall and ceremony site. (There was, however, a motor home parked
next to our altar, so it was difficult to show them exactly what our guests
are going to see on the "big day".) John's parents had no objections to our
choice of sites -- they seemed to like it -- so from there, we moved on to the
next thing on our "to-do" list: find and reserve hotel rooms for the bridal
party.
After that, we were free until 2:00 p.m., at which time we were scheduled to
meet with Klaus, the caterer. We set up camp off of FR 171A, which is the road
leading to the Lava River Tube. The ice pond, I must add, was still there, but
it was bigger than before, probably because some jerks dropped an Oldsmobile
through it. (Of course, we did the smart thing and avoided the ice pond this
time. In fact, we camped next to it.)
While we were waiting for our appointment with Klaus, we looked for a
restaurant at which we could have the rehearsal dinner; and we also went to
Smith's to look at the wedding cakes. Then, at 1:30, we drove to Parks, where
Klaus runs a country store as a side job. Klaus arrived right on time, and he
came prepared to answer all of our wedding-related questions. We were thankful
to have met with him because his answers set our minds at ease about the
wedding.
From that point on, it was time to play. Now that all of the important details
had been taken care of, we were free to go explore the Lava River Tube. (We
couldn't go on a camping trip without having some sort of adventure!) John and
I had already explored the Lava River Tube in November, however, we never got
to finish the trail because we were worried about the car after having dropped
it through the ice pond. We thought that we had blown a tire, and we were
afraid that we were going to be stranded there at the trailhead.
Bundled up in heavy jackets and gloves, the four of us hiked a quarter mile to
the mouth of the cave, which is basically a giant hole in the ground with
rugged rock steps that were iced over with old snow. We had to proceed very
carefully because one wrong step would send us sliding into the abyss (which
sounded more dangerous than fun). Someone had placed a rope there to help
visitors climb down the icy steps. John and I used it to get to the bottom;
Bill and Erika found an easier way, one that wasn't so slippery.
Once we were inside the cave, John and Bill tried to light their lanterns.
That took some time because the striker wouldn't work. Then, when John finally
got the striker to work, his whole lantern ignited! The lantern had a gas
leak, and the only way to extinguish the flames was to turn it off then back
on again. It worked, but I could clearly smell the fumes from the gas leak as
I followed John deeper into the tunnel.
During our first trip into the Lave River Tube, John and I didn't make it very
far before we decided to leave, nor did we have the proper lighting needed to
see all of the cave's features. Having two lanterns helped us to see the
different colors on the walls: shades of brown and red, as well as black marks
that were clearly charred residue from a fire. We also noticed that, at
several points along the trail, there were granite slabs on the floor of the
cave, which had been formed by lava rocks. These slabs had fallen from the
ceiling of the tube, and we found that there were several more ready to fall.
We were curious as to how or why these slabs became separated from the
ceiling: was it seismic activity, temperature changes, other, unnatural
causes?
About halfway through the tube, the tunnels forked. According to the map, they
eventually reconnected. We weren't sure where that was, so we split up. John
and I took the left fork; his parents took the right. Not even five minutes
later, we could see the light from their lantern as they crawled -- yes,
crawled! -- through a tunnel to get back to the main tube. Apparently, the
right fork of the cave just got smaller and smaller until it forced them into
a three-foot high tunnel through which they had to crawl to rejoin us.
We continued on for another quarter mile or so, hiking through large rooms
with high ceilings or crawling through small tunnels that were probably only
three or four feet high. One tunnel in particular was so short that we thought
we had reached the end of the tube. John went ahead of us to check, and he
announced that it opened up into another big room.
Finally, after hiking for forty minutes, we reached the end of the tube, where
it dead-ended. The walls of the cave were covered with the graffiti of hikers
who had been there before us. Some had included the dates of their journey;
one group had been there in 1989. Another person had etched "4:20" into the
soft ground-we know what they were doing down there. (As we returned to camp,
a group of teenagers arrived, and we decided that the Lava River Tube must be
a local party site for under-aged kids who need a place to get drunk/high/laid
without their parents knowing. During the summer months, it is probably
packed!)
It only took us thirty-five minutes to hike out of the cave; I was very happy
to be breathing fresh air again as I climbed out of the tube. The fumes from
John's lantern had almost overwhelmed me, and I was very nauseous. The ill
effects wore off after we returned to camp, so John had me look for firewood
while he got the campfire going.
After the sun went down that night, it got very cold outside, so we stayed
inside the motor home. We dined on juicy steaks, watched a movie, and played a
few games of Rummikub before declaring bedtime.
The next morning, John dug out all of the hiking information he could find for
the Flagstaff area in order to come up with something to do for the day. We
tossed around a ton of ideas, including the Grand Canyon, Williams, and so on,
until John finally opened up a hiking book and found an easy trail for us to
do: the Red Mountain Trail, just off of Highway 180, about seventeen miles
north of where we were camped. It was a relatively flat, 1.25 mile-long trail
leading to a red mountain that was once a volcano. It sounded like something
we would be interested in hiking, so we packed up camp and drove to the
trailhead.
Now I should probably mention that, because of the melting ice and snow on the
ground, there was mud everywhere. Erika's car, which we had been driving
around Flagstaff, was caked with mud. Upon reaching the road leading to the
trailhead, we heard what sounded like pieces of tire coming off of the car,
and we were convinced that we had blown a tire -- which wouldn't have
surprised us, because we have bad luck with tires. When we pulled over to
change the tire, to our surprise, the tire wasn't flat! What we had heard was
the sound of mud falling off of the car.
The trailhead to the Red Mountain Trail is found just opposite mile marker 247
on Highway 180. After turning left, we drove another quarter-mile to the
parking area then started hiking through pine, pinion and junipers towards an
impressive red mountain. The trail ends at the base of the mountain, at which
point there are two options. The first is to climb up a cinder-hill to get to
the other side; the second is to climb a ladder at the dam. (Which way do you
think John went?)
As we reached the base of Red Mountain, we found not only beautiful photo-ops
but also hours of rock-climbing fun and many areas that needed to be explored.
John and I climbed up one alcove in the rocks and found ourselves on a private
ledge, completely hidden from the world outside. (If it hadn't been cold, we
could have been naked!)
John took over as leader of our expedition, and he led us to some impressive
places. He found a stream that was frozen solid. Then, as he climbed a little
bit further, he found its source: a frozen waterfall high up in the rocks.
Getting there was tricky because it involved climbing up ice and dodging the
snowballs that John was throwing at us, but it was worth it.
Having had our fun, we decided that it was time to leave for we still had
important issues to deal with regarding the wedding (we still had to find a
place for the rehearsal dinner). As we returned the way we came, John decided
to take the ladder down instead of scrambling back up the cinder-hill. Of
course, our mistake was letting him go down the ladder first, because he took
it with him as he walked away! After "lovingly" convincing him that he needed
to give us back the ladder, we continued on our way.
Though it was not intentional, our hikes had a common theme: volcanoes. In
ancient times, the Flagstaff area was once full of active volcanoes, forming
such areas of interest as the Lava River Tube and Red Mountain. I pointed this
out to John, and he agreed with me that the common theme was "Things That
Erupt": volcanoes, lava, his asshole...
Our adventure for the weekend ended after we found a restaurant for the
rehearsal dinner, at which time we left Flagstaff and returned to Phoenix. We
were happy to have sorted out so many wedding details and that we managed to
do two interesting hikes. |
