hualapi mountains

we all had thursday, friday, and saturday off and so most of us technicians and one of the supervisors took off to the hualapi mountains: eli, joe, dave, erik, amanda, and i. we went looking for cooler temperatures, which we found. it was incredibly beautiful and much cooler than the heat down here. whew! when we got there we found a nice spot to do a little hiking. all of the guys are die-hard birders and they and amanda took off at once to go and search out new and exciting birding experiences. i went off on my own to have a little alone time for contemplation, journal writing and reading. i really didn't get to the reading, but the other two things were quite a bit more important than reading a novel. i hiked up to the ridge and found a nice spot under a tree and spent the next hour and a half there. i was so pleasant to just be up there surrounded by nothing but nature. i thoroughly enjoyed my "alone time".

that night we found the perfect campsite overlooking a valley. it was just a pullout off the main dirt road that winds its way through the mountains. the whole evening that we were there, there was only one car that drove through. that night i slept out under the sky. in the picture i haven't yet put out my ground pad, but this is the view that we had the privilege of experiencing. it was incredible! the moon was out and very bright, so i couldn't really see the stars all that starkly, but it was still just perfect. and it was cool. i had brought and long sleeved shirt, pants, and a fleece and i was still a little bit cold. so when i got in my sleeping bag it was perfectly comfortable. i slept like a baby. i guess all the guys went out owling in until about 1 and then they got up at about 5 to do some more birding. i'm impressed! i guess i value my sleep way too much!

so the next day (friday) we went to conquer hualapi peak, about a 7.5 mile hike that is uphill both ways. and i'm not kidding - there were ups and downs both ways. when hiking i hate it when the trail starts sloping downhill because i know that i'm going to have to make up for that lost elevation. and this trail was a master at that folly. it was also incredibly beautiful! the only self-induced problem was that we started hiking around 10.30am! oops! so yeah, we were hiking in the hotest time of the day and we all we roasting. but we still had fun. and even though i have mentioned in a previous post (baldy) that i'm a really slow hiker, i'm proud to report that i was the first to reach the top. i guess at home all the people that i normally hike with are extremely, inhumanly fast. at least that's the reason that i'll use. it was so nice that everyone else was really taking their time going up. they were also stopping a lot to look at birds so we got in a lot of nice breaks. it was just refreshing to be able to stop and "smell the roses", to look around and see things and learn the plants and just to enjoy the hike instead of racing to the top. i can say that now but i do have to admist that i also like getting a good hiking record, for me at least.

in the pictures, from left to right, are dave, eli, becca (me!), joe, and erik. i just realized that i don't have a picture of amanda of amanda on that hike but she was there. anyhow, i got to the "top" and realized that i couldn't go up anymore. the trail just ended and there were huge boulders above us. so we didn't ever get to the "true" summit, but i definitely got close. this picture with all of us sitting is taken right below the huge boulder summit.

on our hike we saw countless birds (ask the guys and they'll tell you the specifics on that), tons of lizards, and i saw a mule deer. it was nice getting out of the lake havasu area and going to a place that was still wilderness and not cultured civilization.