John and I had already decided that we
were going to have an outdoors wedding. However, we also wanted to have the
wedding in July so that we could honeymoon in
Glacier National Park in
Montana, and July was the best time of year to go there. In order to have what
we wanted without torturing our guests, we opted to have our wedding out of
town. On November 7, John and I checked out all of the sites in Pine,
Strawberry, and Payson; we even looked at group campsites. We still didn't see
anything we liked except for the Elks Lodge in Payson, so we decided to go to
Flagstaff the following Saturday to look at their Elks Lodges.
As usual, we left before sunrise and drove to Flagstaff, where there were two
Elks Lodges. The first one was right on the corner downtown, so we drove right
by it without stopping. The second one was at the end of San Francisco Street.
Now, John and I knew that we would know when we found the right place to get
married, and this Elks Lodge was it. Behind it, there was a beautiful meadow
that would be filled with green grass and wild flowers in July, and in the
background, there was a spectacular view of Mount Humphreys, the tallest peak
in Arizona. It was so perfect that John and I booked it that following week.
Having accomplished our goal early in the day, we were ready to go play. While
visiting "The Hikingsite.com" (now defunct) one day, John found a great trail
for us to try: the Lava River Tube, which is a mile-long underground lava
tube that is thirty-four degrees year round. I was curious and insisted that
we go.
It was a good thing we took the Oldsmobile on this trip because the van would
not have been able to handle the road to the trail. During the week, it had
snowed eight inches in the Flagstaff area, meaning that there would be plenty
of that white stuff on FR 172...and there was! Fortunately, it was an
all-weather road, and we only had to go two miles to get to FR 172A -- a 4WD
road. That was when the road got ugly. We only had to go a quarter mile to get
to the trailhead, but it was the scariest quarter mile I had ever seen.
Halfway there, the Oldsmobile went crashing through a shallow pond of ice!
John's luck and excellent driving skills saw us through the mess. He kept the
tires turning until we made it through to the other side of the pond.
Once we reached the trailhead, we parked the car and inspected the damage: the
air dam had been pulled loose, and there was a hissing sound coming from the
right rear tire. We were convinced that we had caused a leak in the tire, but
we had come all that way to hike the trail. I wasn't about to leave until I
had seen the lava tube. We decided to hike for a half an hour. Then we would
leave while we still had air in the tire.
The Lava River Tube can be found just yards from the parking area. It begins
at a large hole in the ground, where there are stone steps leading to the
mouth of the cave. Armed with a lantern and a Maglite flashlight, we descended
into the tunnel, where it soon became pitch dark. Had the batteries died in
our lights, we would have been stuck in complete darkness. At one point, John
and I turned off our lights just to see how dark it would be. After our eyes
adjusted, we still could not see each other.
Hiking through the tube was challenging in that we had to be careful not to
slip on ice or hit our heads on the low ceilings. At first, the hike required
a lot of boulder-hopping that was best done by sliding over the top on my rear
end. Soon the boulders became smaller as the floor evened out, making it
easier to walk through the tunnel. At times, we had to crawl through small
rooms where the ceiling was only feet above the ground; but then we would
emerge into a large cavern with a twelve-foot high ceiling. It was an
impressive site.
Though the lava tube is said to be thirty-four degrees inside year round, I
didn't feel cold at all, but that was probably due to the adrenaline rush I
was having. Despite the fact it was challenging and even a little dangerous,
the trail was fun, and I would love to go back during the summer (when the
road is in better condition).
Once our hike was over, I followed John out of the tube...only to get pelted
by a flying snowball! John had started a snowball fight, and I was losing
miserably. I surrendered but vowed that I would get revenge later.
As we returned to the car, we discovered that the tire was still fully
inflated, so we had time to get out of there. However, we still had to
pass through the ice pond again. We watched as another couple in a Dodge Neon tried
to do the same thing that we did. They almost got stuck, but they managed to
put the car in reverse and back out of the mess. They ended up parking near
the pond. While looking for a better way around the ice, John stopped to talk
to them. He asked them to wait for us to pass through the pond, so if we had
any problems they could tow us out of it. They agreed, so once again, we went
crashing through the ice, keeping the tires turning so that we wouldn't get
stuck. At the last minute, though, we had to swerve to avoid hitting a huge
rock that was in the way; in doing so, we almost crashed into a tree!
Fortunately, John got us out of
 there alive. After stopping to thank the young
couple, we continued on our way.
We stopped at the side of FR 172 to take pictures and to play in the snow.
John and I had a snowball fight; he also tackled me and pulled me into the
snow. Later on, we stopped on the side of the highway to make snow angels and
to build a snowman in the middle of a forest road. Our snowman had an "Oh, no,
Mr. Bill!" expression on his face that was sure to freak out some motorist
traveling on that road.
Once the fun was over, we returned to the Elks Lodge to take pictures of the
wedding site. Then, we drove back to Phoenix, counting the mileage as we went
along so that we could include it on our "trail maps" (our wedding
invitations). |
