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Although it had only been three weeks since
Mary's birth,
and though I was still trying to heal, John and I decided to take Mary on her
first day trip. I was going stir crazy being homebound - I was beginning to
realize that I am not a homebody - so John felt that some fresh air and
sunshine would do me some good. He also wanted to scope out the
Clover Creek
area, because we were planning to do a luxury backpack there during Labor Day
weekend (in what would be Mary's first backpacking trip). Not only did he want
to see if there was any water in the creek (it had been a dry year, after
all), but he also wanted to know if I would be able to hike there. Though my
Cesarean incision had been healing nicely, despite the setbacks I had had, and
though I was finally walking better, I still did not have all of my strength
back. However, I was determined to get out of the house and start getting back
to nature, so I agreed to go on the day trip.
We left Sunday morning at seven a.m., which for us was a slow start. (That
morning, we learned a valuable lesson: when traveling with baby, make sure
that everything is ready the night before!) After the obligatory stop at
Einstein's Bagels for breakfast, John and Mary and I started our trip to the
Mogollon Rim, along SR 87. En route, we realized that we had forgotten our
brand new camera (our new Fuji camera, which has a zoom lens) so we had to
stop in Payson to buy a throw-away camera - after all, this was Mary's first
outing, and we had to take pictures!
We arrived at Clover Creek (on FR 142) around 9:30 a.m. It had just rained on
the Mogollon Rim, so as we stepped out of the van, we could smell the fresh
scent of pine - a scent that is instantly relaxing! I couldn't help but smile,
because it felt like I was home again. That was just what I needed to help
speed up my healing.
Prepping for our hike took a little bit longer than usual, because there was a
new element to deal with: Mary. How does one hike with a baby? Obviously, this
was all new to us, so we weren't sure what to expect, even though we were
equipped with all of the latest items: a backpack-style diaper bag, and a
Snugli front/back baby carrier. We also had all of the things we would need
for the baby: extra diapers, wipes, extra formula, a change of clothes (just
in case), receiving blankets, a hat (to keep her head from getting sunburned),
and a pacifier (again, just in case). But would that be enough? Were we
forgetting something? And even if we did have everything that we needed, how
would Mary react to the hike?
Fortunately, Mary was only three weeks old, and we had read that newborns are
the easiest to take on trips, because all they do is sleep, eat and poop. You
don't have to bring toys to entertain them, and they'll sleep anywhere you put
them. As long as you have diapers and food, they'll be happy.
With Mary riding in the Snugli, strapped to her father's chest, the three of
us began our short day hike into Clover Creek. It was there that Mary received
her first "trail kiss" from both John and me. Then, as we started to go, Mary
fell asleep, lulled by the bounce as John hiked down the trail. By the time
we reached the wilderness boundary for the West Clear Creek Wilderness Area,
she was sound asleep for her first "wilderness kiss".
Despite the ease of our hike (the Clover Creek trail is one of the easiest
that we have ever done, at least for the first two miles), our pace was still
slow as I had to hike very gingerly for fear that I would fall and reopen my
wound. However, that gave me time to enjoy being back in the outdoors again.
As always, Clover Creek was beautiful, lush and green, though the creek itself
was bone dry - another casualty of the dry spell brought on by the La Niña
phenomenon. A morning monsoon rainstorm had left behind a few pools of water,
which we could use to filter water during our backpacking trip. The rains had
also stirred up the bees, which were buzzing loudly as they flit through the
flowers along the creek.
Halfway through our hike, Mary began fussing for food, and I started to get a
little tired - like I said, I still had not yet regained all of my strength.
We stopped to rest - and to feed Mary - several times. (John, in fact, fed her
a bottle while hiking so that we could keep moving.) Finally, we reached a
shady spot where we could stop and rest for a little while, about 0.9 miles
from the trailhead. John took Mary out of the Snugli and put her down on a
receiving blanket on the grass, and we sat on either side of her and enjoyed
the silence and the cool weather.
During our rest, we saw an interesting sight: three hikers and a pair of
llamas carrying their stuff. We had seen them at the trailhead; one of the
hikers worked for Fossil Creek Llamas, a Strawberry-based company that rents
llamas for day or overnight hikes. Now John and I knew that there were several
companies in Payson, Pine and Strawberry that rented horses for the same
purpose, but we didn't know that there was a place to rent llamas! I
remembered reading in Backpacker Magazine that llamas make great pack animals,
so naturally I was curious how much it would cost to rent a llama for an
overnight trip. It would definitely be different!
After we finished resting, we decided to return to the trailhead. I was
getting tired, and if I had continued on, I might have been too tired to hike
back to the car. It also looked as though the summer monsoons were going to
bring us another rainstorm before the afternoon was over. (We definitely
wanted to get back to the car before then.) During our return hike, Mary
continued to fuss, so John fed her while we hiked - we couldn't afford to stop
long enough for an entire feeding, not when the clouds were gathering fast.
Fortunately, we made it back to the car well before any raindrops fell, and
that was when Mary decided that she had had enough to eat. When we put her in
her car seat, she fell asleep.
It was almost noon when we got back to the van, so we decided to find a nice
place to have a picnic. John took us to FR 616 - the road to
Pivot Rock Canyon
- and found a quiet side road, where we laid out our tarp and ate our
sandwiches while we watched the rain clouds continue to gather. A nice cool
breeze picked up - just cool enough that we had to cover Mary with a blanket.
Then, after a diaper change, we decided that it was time to go home.
Though Mary is much too young to actually enjoy her first experiences in the
outdoors, we enjoyed taking her out there, and we were delighted that she had
done so well on her first day hike. After we got home, John and I decided that
an overnight, luxury-type backpacking trip would be doable for Labor Day
weekend, because we were sure that Mary would do just fine in the backcountry
overnight. Most importantly, though, we both agreed that we look forward to
the day when Mary will enjoy the outdoors as we do, when she is actually aware
of her surroundings and when she can see all of the things that we see (that
is, when her eyes begin to focus and when she can hold her head up on her
own).
But for now, we'll just enjoy having her around! |
