Back From Hiatus

So where have all my adventures been lately? In the office, mostly. Staring at a computer doing exactly the thing I did not want to do: office work. So I decided to get the hell out and do something I've been thinking about doing since I got to Flagstaff the first day back in June: climb that huge mountain on the horizon.




I went down to Flag to climb Mount Elden--close to a 2,500 foot hike up the back side of a San Francisco Peak. If you think the air is already thin at 7,000 feet, try climbing up to 9,300 feet.









As I climbed higher, I could feel the air change. The sun was way more intense, but it was colder up higher, so it was actually kind of a pleasant situation. There was some tree cover, some open air, but the parts where I was climbing nearly vertically up rocks and tree roots was in full force of the blazing sun from about 8000-9000 feet.











At the very top-- 9,300 feet up-- there was a radio fire watch tower (to spot wildfires). So I sat down next to it and had lunch. It was a very strange feeling to be so high up and not be in an airplane. I could see all the way down past the mountains to the desert that lurks past the San Fran peaks.



Here I'm standing at the highest point on Mount Elden, and these other two hikers and I had the mountain top to ourselves. I was in awe of the view, right up until I realized that I had to now descend that same steep, rocky 2,500 feet.



And I kept seeing these weird little lizard things... like little Goomba babies from Super Mario or something. They were everywhere (and quite frankly, a little creepy).