This year, John's birthday fell on a Friday.  That meant one thing: three-day weekend!  True, it would mean taking Mary out of school for a day, but at least we could go on a three-day backpacking trip - which, of course, is just as educational as being in school.  (That is how we justified it.)

When asked where he wanted to go for his birthday backpacking trip, John suggested that we do the Pine Canyon Trail #26, which we had hiked back in June.  It would be a bit of a groaner to do that hike with full packs on, but it was certainly doable, as long as we did it right.

On the morning of John's birthday (Friday, September 30) - instead of waking up early to be on the road before the sun came up - we decided to sleep in, for no particular reason other than we were tired and needed the extra sleep.  Sleeping in also meant that we would be leaving the house after the morning rush-hour traffic died down; it was worth it to wait.  Most importantly, it gave us the chance to give John his birthday presents before we left the house!

We didn't get started on our trip until 9:00 a.m. - one of our latest start times ever.  While it is true that many hikers have no problem starting so late, for us, this was uncharted territory.  We had absolutely no idea how this late start was going to affect our hike - or worse, how Mary was going to do.  Her hiking melt-downs usually started at 11:00 a.m. precise; we weren't going to start until much later.  This was going to be an interesting experiment!

To get to the trailhead, we took SR 87 - the Beeline Highway - north through Payson, up to the Mogollon Rim, making one stop along the way, to eat lunch at the Strawberry Lodge in Strawberry.  (As long as we were getting a late start, we thought it was important to get a good lunch, to fuel up for our hike.)  We finally arrived at the Cinch Hook Trailhead around 12:30 in the afternoon.

Although we were getting such a late start, we did have one advantage on our side: our entire hike that afternoon would be all downhill.  That said, we were hopeful that we would at least make it all the way into Pine Canyon before Mary wore out. 

The Pine Canyon Trail started out on an old Jeep road that led us right up to the edge of the Mogollon Rim. Along the way, we had some of the most stunning views of the Rim, of Milk Ranch Point, and of the canyon below.  After a half-mile or so, the trail narrowed into a foot path, and we began our descent into the canyon.  The descent was by a series of switchbacks, about twelve in all (yes, we counted them), and for the most part, it was an easy hike...

...That is, until we came to the log.

The log was the trunk of a fallen ponderosa pine tree, and it was blocking our path.  It was such a large log that, in order to continue hiking, we had to climb up and over it.  It was one thing to do so with day-packs on; with full, 35-40 pound backpacks, it was a completely different story.

John decided to lift Mary up and over the log and deposit her on the other side.  That was simply the easiest way to get her around the log.  Of course, once she was on the ground, she started hiking again, so John had to act fast to ensure that she didn't get too far ahead of us on her own.  So, with both hands on the log, he leapt over the log and landed with both feet on the other side...

...and in the very next second, the ground slipped out from under him, sending him tumbling down the side of the mountain!

Fortunately for him, we were at the end of a switchback, so he stopped himself on the trail that was only fifty feet below him.  He did not, however, escape unscathed; his legs were completely scratched and bruised from the fall, and he was hurting.  We had to stop there for a while so that John could gather himself enough to decide whether or not we should keep going or go back.  Eventually, he was able to get up again; and after determining that nothing was broken (except for his pride), he suggested that we keep hiking.

And so we did.  We continued hiking into Pine Creek Canyon, without further incident.

We soon arrived at the canyon bottom and passed the point where we had hiked to in June.  From there, we kept going another mile or so, until we found a beautiful campsite next to Pine Creek, at Parsnip Springs.  That would be our base of operations for the next two nights.

After setting up camp, we sat down and relaxed, and John assessed the damage to his legs.  He was very lucky that he wasn't seriously injured when he slid off of the trail.  "You could have been killed," I said to him, "and on your birthday of all days."  I also pointed out that, when he fell, it looked like a scene out of the movie Romancing the Stone, only without all the mud. 

A little bit later, we ate dinner and drank wine next to a nice, warm campfire, as the sun began to set on the day.  All things considered, it had been a good day, and now, it was time to settle in for the night...

While Mary and I slept in the tent, John made his bed on a tube tent outside, next to the campfire.  During the night, he was awakened but a noise, coming from the creek nearby.  He strained to see through the darkness and finally spied a large animal - possibly a teen-aged bear - taking a drink in the creek.  He wasn't sure if the animal saw him or not; it acted as though there were no humans nearby.  And after its thirst had been quenched, it lumbered away.  John shrugged and went back to sleep.

The next morning, we were up bright and early and ready for another day of adventure.  Our plan for the day was to do a little day hike on the Pine Canyon Trail - perhaps one or two miles up the trail, then back again before lunch.  To make it interesting, John planned a little scavenger hunt for Mary, with hopes that it would keep her hiking.  What we had discovered was that she hiked better when there was a purpose - something to keep her interested - and the scavenger hunt was our latest idea.

We left our campsite around 8:30 in the morning and started hiking downstream along the Pine Canyon Trail.  The trail at that point was mostly flat, and the area was very beautiful.  It was also very quiet, except for the sound of the creek gurgling nearby and the birds chirping in the trees - very peaceful, very serene.

We hiked for a little more than an hour down the trail, at a steady clip, and eventually came to a fence and couple of signs.  One was a trail sign, which indicated that we were about 1.5 miles from the Pine Trailhead; the other sign showed that we had reached Camp Lo Mia, the Mormon summer camp that is situated behind the LDS church in Pine.  I had been invited to go to Camp Lo Mia with my best friend Suzanne (whose family was Mormon) earlier that year, for the annual LDS Mother-Daughter weekend but had to cancel when Mary ended up with a bladder infection.

"Let's check it out," John suggested, so we opened the gate and entered the camp.

Camp Lo Mia, as we found, was a huge camp, complete with cabins, picnic tables, fire rings, and even amphitheaters for church services.  The cabins were all rustic, with three full walls and one partial wall with a tarp that covered the opening.  Inside each cabin, there were bunk beds - enough for 6-12 people, depending on the size of the cabin - and lockers for food. 

We walked through Camp Lo Mia and eventually ended up at the camp store, at the end of the access road.  "Hmmm," John muttered, eying the road, "I wonder...do you know how long this road is?"

I said that I didn't know, so John said, "I think I'm going to check it out."  He told us to wait there for him, while he hiked the road to see how long it would take him to get to SR 87.  The reason, he said, was to see if that could be an alternate exit for us. Instead of making Mary hike all the way back up the Rim, she and I could hike to SR 87 while John hiked back up the mountain to fetch the Jeep; then, he would meet up with us in Pine.  It seemed like a good plan to me; but when John returned, twenty minutes later, he announced that it wasn't going to work.  The access road was too long; it would take us just as long to hike the road than it would to hike back up the Rim.  We were better off hiking together back up to the Cinch Hook Trailhead.

It was almost lunchtime when we left Camp Lo Mia to start our hike back to our campsite, and we were getting hungry.  Although we had snacks with us, they were barely enough to hold us before we made it back to camp.  (Those 100-Calorie Packs may be tasty, but they are not enough to satiate your appetite.)  That motivated us to hike faster, just so that we could get back to a hearty meal!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at our campsite - relaxing, napping, and lazing about.  It was nice to just do nothing; and it was important to get plenty of rest for our hike out the next day. 

After a good dinner and some rest by a warm fire, it was time for bed.  Naturally, we were in bed early that night - not long after the first star - and we slept soundly all the way until morning.

We awoke at first light to a crisp, cold morning - the type of morning where it took a while to warm up enough to get moving.  We stayed huddled by the fire until the sun finally rose over the canyon; then, we started packing up our packs in preparation for our long hike out.

We started hiking around 8:30 a.m.; by 9:00, we reached the beginning of our climb.  Just as we had done before, we held our hiking sticks out behind us so that Mary could hold onto them while she hiked uphill; that worked for about a quarter of a mile.  Then, she got tired of it.  At that point, John gave her his hiking stick so that she could use it to help her up the hill.  Although it worked well for her, it did not stop her from complaining about how hard it was and how steep the trail was.

The hike became easier, though, once we reached the switchbacks; then, it became like a game to count the switchbacks as we went along.  We also stopped at each switchback to take a five-minute breather, and that was just long enough for Mary to make it to the next switchback. 

By the time we reached the old Jeep road, though, all bets were off; Mary was tired and just wanted to be done with the hike.  We did what we could to drag her along until, at last, at 11:00 a.m., we finally arrived at the Cinch Hook Trailhead.

Although we had brought enough food with us that we could have made lunch at the trailhead, we decided to skip that and eat lunch in Pine instead, so that we could also enjoy a cold, frothy adult beverage to go with it.  A half an hour later, we were at the Rimside Grille in Pine, where we had a lovely lunch and a couple of brews to celebrate another successful backpacking trip...

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