Now what?

Only four people showed up at the monthly hiking club meeting on Tuesday. I figured that with the cooler climes, more people would show up at these meetings. Instead, the attendance has slacked off sharply now that Little Steve no longer shows up. He and six other club members are backpacking in the White Mountains this week.

All is fine, but when I brought up next quarter's schedule, no one wanted to volunteer for any hikes. And since I am unsure about staying on as member for another year, won't add myself to any more hikes. I simply can't lead a hike every week when so few people are interested. If my hikes are seen as "too fast," "too strenuous" or "too long" then perhaps it's best I spend part of my time in the woods challenging myself to maintain that image of "too fast, too strenuous, too long."

The problem is that the hiking club is too small, too old and too casual.

What I'd rather do is explore uncharted terrain sola, with just Sadie, since Kevin doesn't hike anymore. There are a lot of regions I haven't been to yet: Prescott, Verde Wilderness, Yuma, Arizona's Lost Strip, even the Grand Canyon. Before I lead a hike in those areas, though, I want to explore the region first.

I did tell Steve that I would lead at least one hike a month once he's president, but that I am not going to attend the club meetings anymore. I have a Tuesday class next semester (Ancient Civilization, a potential snoozer). People want by-laws and a president but few take any initiative. Why can't we just be a group of friends who like to hike the mountains? All these regulations and by-laws are restricting.

I told Kevin all this yesterday while we were enjoying free dinner at Applebee's for Veteran's Day. I want to go on weekend road trips to him in January and February and I already have two destinations in mind: San Diego's dog beach and the Mount Charleston Recreation area NW of Las Vegas. This mountain, at 11918', is Nevada's 8th tallest peak. Both destinations are about 500 miles away, an "easy" day drive.

Kevin's daughter Katie is here for a few days. He's taking a few days vacation to show her around the county. She only has a few days here, so Kevin will focus on showing her Tombstone, Bisbee and the border. She couldn't afford to take two weeks off because of her job in the flower business, so she flew here on a budget air fare. Her four days here will just be long enough to give her a taste of this awesome region. Too bad she's getting here as our warm snap is cooling. We've had 80-degree days all week, but tonight the temperatures will drop 15 degrees and be more seasonable.