And so, as 1998 drew to a close, I
decided to embark on the biggest adventure of my life: I was going to make my
first tandem skydive at Skydive Arizona in Eloy. I thought it would be a great
way to end the best year of my life.
I took a four-day weekend to celebrate the new year, so I made the decision to
make my first skydive on New Year's Eve day, at 2:00 p.m. I invited all of my
friends and family to come watch me throw myself out of a "perfectly good
airplane", and John said that he would be right there with me during my
skydive to hold my hand and give me my first "kiss pass" in freefall.
I was getting excited and nervous at the same time. Then, during Christmas, a
tandem fatality in Maricopa almost made me reconsider doing the skydive. For
several nights I had nightmares about it. However, I couldn't let that
incident stop me from making my first jump. I realized that there are risks in
skydiving, that accidents will happen and that they could happen during my
skydive, but people go on jumping anyway.
John and I arrived in Eloy at 11:00 in the morning that day; and after
stopping at the motor home to deposit our luggage, we went over to the Drop
Zone. John managed to get in one jump before my class began at 2:00 -- he did
a six-way with some of his friends. Just after John landed, his mother and
cousin Melissa arrived. They had come out to watch my skydive. While I was in
the tandem classroom, my friends Marcheta and Debbie arrived -- Debbie had
brought her new beau, Brian -- and finally, John's father joined us.
Once the class was over and I had signed all of the necessary paperwork, it
was time to get suited up for the jump. We had already been manifested for
Skyvan 16, which was on a twenty minute call. I met my tandem-master, Ken, who
had already done tandems with members of John's family, and Thomas, who would
be videotaping the jump. John, too, got ready to jump. He put on his
"super-bag" jumpsuit, which would decrease his fall rate and enable him to
chase us during the skydive.
Soon, it was time to get on the bus and head out to the Skyvan; Thomas filmed
us boarding the bus, so John groped my rear-end for the videotape.
It was a twenty minute ride to altitude, which was 14,000 feet. During that
time, Ken did gear checks and taught me hand signals. When he pat me on the
arms, that would mean to arch; he would also grab my left hand at pull time.
He then told me that we would walk towards the rear of the Skyvan until we
"ran out of plane", at which time we would do a back flip then freefall for
nearly sixty seconds before it was time to pull the chute.
Then, the door opened up, and it was time to go. All of the other skydivers
left first, because tandems always exit last. I got to see a "tube" going out
the door. That is a dive in which four people form what looks like a wheel
that goes spinning towards the earth. After the last load was out, it was my
turn. Clenching my teeth, I walked towards the rear of the plane...and before
I knew it, I was in freefall! The air was rushing all around me, and though it
was loud, I loved it! A second later, I found Thomas, so I began to ham it up,
unaware that John was holding my hand. Suddenly, I realized that someone was
turning my face; it was John, trying to give me a kiss! I kissed him
back...then returned my attention to the camera! (I was having too much fun.)
Every now and then, I looked at John; I mouthed the words "I love you" to him,
stuck my tongue out at him, and blew him kisses.
At 5,500 feet, I remembered the altimeter. It was almost pull time, and Ken
made sure I knew it! At 5,000 feet, I pulled the rip cord, and the canopy
deployed overhead. Suddenly, everything became quiet and peaceful as we
floated above the earth. The first thing I saw was
Picacho Peak, and I was
quick to point it out to Ken, stating, "Been there, done that!" He also
pointed out other points of interest while teaching me how to work the
toggles. He instructed me on how to steer, how to flare during landing, and
how to make the canopy do turns and spins.
It was such a delightful ride that I didn't want it to end, however, since
"gravity rules" we had to land. We landed softly on the pea gravel, and John
ran up to me to hug me while I shouted, "I did it!" In the background, I could
hear applause coming from my friends and family.
After I received my certificate and videotape, I did what all skydivers are
supposed to do after every "first": I bought a round of drinks for everyone.
(Technically, I was supposed to buy a case of beer, but that was acceptable.)
We walked over to the Bent Prop, where we drank beer and watched the videotape
of my skydive over and over again.
That evening, John and I went to the New Year's Eve party, which took place in
the hanger at the DZ. We danced together to songs like "Down Together" by the
Refreshments (an appropriate song for that day) and "The Way" by Fastball (the
song that will be our first dance together at our wedding). At midnight, we
welcomed the new year; and at one o'clock in the morning, we staggered back to
the motor home and passed out.
New Year's Day was spent cleaning out John's motor home and trying to get it
running so that he could sell it. Though we were able to make a dent in the
mess, it wouldn't stay running, so Bill and John gave up and went skydiving.
They only made two jumps -- one of which was in the DC3 -- before dinnertime.
The next day, John and I took a road trip to Tucson so that we could drive up
to Mount Lemmon. John had never been there before, but he had heard that there
were some very nice trails there. We selected an eight mile loop that would
take us into the Wilderness of Rocks, which sounded interesting. However, we
never got to hike it because the access road to the trailhead was closed for
the winter.
After stopping for lunch at the Summerhaven Café, John and I drove to Ski
Valley in hopes that we could go sledding, but we were told that sledding was
not allowed, so we opted to go for a ride on the ski lift instead. (The ski
resort was not yet open, but the ski lifts were open all year.) It was a very
pretty ride; though there wasn't much snow on the ground, the view from the
top of the ski lift was beautiful.
There wasn't much else we could do on Mount Lemmon. All of the dirt roads we
wanted to explore had been closed for the winter, and it was getting too late
to hike any of the other trails. We decided to leave early and return to the
DZ to pack up our things before going home to Phoenix.
The next morning, we woke at 5:00 in the morning to go hiking in the
Superstitions. While surfing the internet, John had found an interesting trail
called Haunted Canyon #203, a 7.5 mile long trail that would take us through
Haunted Canyon in the Superstition Mountains. The web site said that there was
an old abandoned cabin along the trail. Visitors could stop there and sign a
guest book that had been left there. That peaked my curiosity, so I told John
that I wanted to do it.
We invited Erika and Melissa to join us on our hike, but Melissa had to cancel
at the last minute because she was sick. Erika came alone at 5:45 a.m.,
bringing us breakfast from Einstein's Bagels, and, at 6:00, we began our
two-hour journey to the trailhead.
Getting there was easy but a little confusing. From US 60, just past Top of
the World, we had to turn left on Pinto Valley Road, a winding forest road
that would take us through the Pinto Mine. According to what we had read, when
the Pinto Mine was purchased, the forest service stipulated that they had to
keep a road open and maintained so that people could have access to the
Superstitions. While traveling along this road, it is important to pay
attention to the signs because the road forks often, and the signs indicate
which way to go.
After passing through the mine, we crossed a rickety old bridge, which marks
the eastern trailhead of the Haunted Canyon Trail #203 -- but we didn't know
that at the time. Continuing on, we found the northern trailhead, which was
another five miles up the road. It was there that we began our hike. We
stepped onto the trail at 8:15 a.m. and immediately entered the Superstition
Wilderness area.
It was a bitterly cold morning, and in order to warm up, we hiked the first
half mile very quickly to get the blood circulating. The next mile was a
little slower as we began to climb uphill to the pass, where there was plenty
of warm sunlight to greet us. After reaching the pass, we stopped for a break
at a tank, where we saw beautiful bluebirds flying away into the trees. That
was an incredible sight.
From there, it was all downhill as we descended into Haunted Canyon, and one
word can best describe that part of the trail: OVERGROWN! For about a mile, we
had to plow through scrub oak and other prickly shrubs -- I was thankful that
I had worn so many layers of clothing! At first it was annoying, but after a
while I got used to it and it wasn't so bad.
Finally, we reached the bottom of Haunted Canyon, which was very beautiful.
The trail continued under a canopy of winter-bare sycamore trees, through a
thick carpet of autumn leaves. There were many ideal camping sites there, and
John and I added it to our list of potential backpacking trips. (We have many
backpacking trips in mind so that we can practice for our honeymoon; we're
planning to do some backpacking in Glacier National Park in Montana.)
We couldn't find the abandoned cabin along the trail, but we did see old
farming equipment as well as a corral so we continued on in hopes that we
would find it later on down the trail. We continued on for about two miles,
and a little bit after 11:00 we stopped for lunch.
By that time, I wasn't feeling well. I couldn't stop sneezing, and my nose and
head were all stuffed up. I was convinced that I was coming down with a cold
-- not a good thing to happen while on a trail -- so we decided to turn around
and hike back out of Haunted Canyon.
During the return trip, we were determined to find the old abandoned cabin so
that we could sign the guest book. John ventured off into the woods, thinking
that maybe the cabin was hidden in the trees. Instead of finding the cabin, he
found a connecting trail that went south from the Haunted Canyon Trail. After
following it for about a quarter mile, we found ourselves in a beautiful
meadow, at the end of which was the cabin. However, it was not abandoned!
There were fresh horse apples in the yard, and inside the cabin there were
supplies, bed rolls, and lawn chairs! Though no one was there at the time, we
knew that someone had been there recently as the coals in the fire ring were
still smoldering, and yesterday's date (1/2/99) had been written on one of the
cans. And to top it all off, there was no guest book! Feeling a little
cheated, we decided to get out of there before the occupants returned -- what
if some crazed lunatic was hiding out there? (Actually, the cabin is probably
part of an active ranch, and there is probably a ranch hand staying there.
That would be our best guess. However, it's always best to be safe than
sorry.)
Climbing out of Haunted Canyon meant hiking uphill through the overgrown
shrubs. We decided that it was much easier going downhill through the foliage
than it was going uphill because the pace was much slower, making it harder to
plow quickly through the prickly plants. However, we made it through the mess
and eventually reached the top of the pass. From there, it was all downhill,
and we made it back to the van in forty-five minutes, completing an eight to
nine mile hike.
By 3:30, we were back on US 60, heading towards Superior, where we stopped for
ice cream at the Dairy Queen. By sunset, we were back in Phoenix. The four-day
weekend was almost over, and I thanked John for making it the most memorable
New Year's celebration of my life. |
