Date: July 12, 2007
Time and Temperature: Start - ~5:40, 110
End - ~7:54, 98
Location: Bulldog Canyon. Click here for map
Distance hiked: About 2.7 miles
Elevation change: About 375 feet
The numbers:
15 Cans collected
2 Plastic bags collected
1 Golf ball and brake shoe collected
5 Cactus (cholla) thorns in hands
0 Cactus thorns in buttocks. Woohoo!
1 Liter of water consumed
Ramblings: I don't usually go for hikes when it is over 105, but it had been a long time since I'd been out in the desert, and I missed it. I almost overdid it, though. The problem is that it's hard to drink water that's over 100 degrees. I felt fine during the hike and afterwards, but it was the middle of the next morning before my bladder filled up. I'm going to start packing a frozen bottle of water and maybe something like Gatorade on really hot days.
The heat is really stressful. I tried to stay on level ground most of the way. I was going up the (steep) side of a wash once, with the sun shining on my back, and going slowly, but my heart was pounding and I was gasping for air as my body tried to get rid of the heat. As long as I wasn't climbing, there was a nice breeze that kept me comfortable. I also stopped in the shade of a saguaro now and then.
I noticed something interesting. If you find a bunch of beer cans laying around, that means you are near a road. People who drink beer don't like to carry it. Apparently, they don't even like to carry the empties in their vehicle.
I came across a U.S. General Land Office survey marker. Rocks had been piled around it. Then some critter piled cholla balls on the rocks. Then spiders wove webs around all of that.
 |
| BC_2007_07 |
Posts
3 comments:
Love the new format, Dad. I can never tell if you're joking or serious though... so I might as well comment anyway. Reading this blog made my day, so I wanted to thank you for keeping up with it. You can always make me laugh. Love you lots!
Looks good, but also looks like a lot of work. I have been thinking you should keep good records of your hikes so you can write a book someday. I think a book about hikes close to the valley would be a big hit. At least as big as a hiking book could be.
Actually, it's less work that trying to figure out how to work all that information into text.
Post a Comment