Carr Peak in April

Kevin was not in a good mood this morning. Sadie woke him up at 2am and he couldn't get back to sleep. What he failed to mention was that he had had three pots of coffee the day before.

"Those weren't full pots of coffee" he explained.

I didn't want to egg him on any further as I had stepped into his danger zone. He almost bowed out of today's hike because of his mood. I kept quiet for the rest of the drive to the trailhead.

Male menopause is a bitch, I tell you, and Kevin is not one who takes responsibility when things go wrong.

Steve drove up shortly thereafter and all bad moods were forgotten. The two guys talked like old friends (their personalities are both laid-back). No one else had RSVPed for this hike so we drove off for the trailhead at 9am. I sat in the back of the truckbed since I still haven't located my SUV keys (to which Kevin replied with a few expletives).

The road up to the trailhead was snow and icefree. And once we got on the trail at 9:45am we still didn't encounter any snow until we hit the aspen grove. Kevin hiked at a better pace than expected. I was the pacer and stopped to wait for him at first. This is his first peak in a few years and wanted his return to peakbagging to be enjoyable.

There were enough small snow banks for Sadie to eat cool ice. She never drank any water. The drainage creek halfway up the trail was gushing, the first time in years, and I had a few unfiltered palmfuls of that cold snowmelt.

The aspens are just now breaking out with buds.

We made it to the top in two hours. We had stopped three times for Kevin to catch up, during which he always lit up a cigarette. There was little wind and the sky was a vibrant blue. A few new trees had toppled in the recent windstorms (more are due Wednesday). There was no snow on the lower peaks like Huachuca or Lyle. The still-naked trees made looking for any more trails rather easy.

It was the better of two weekend days for this hike. There weren't any wildflowers out but I expect them out for my May hike. We also didn't see much wildlife except for a few high-flying ravens and a few young lizards. On the return trip I picked up three plastic bottles and three aluminum cans, all hecho en Mexico. How many hikers had passed by that trash and didn't bother to clean it up?

There were no people up there, either until we descended. Two army guys with a three-year-old boy were going uphill. Later we met a solo German coming up at a fast pace, and near the trailhead a young family with two small children. Most of the people up Carr Canyon Road had pulled over along the lower waterfall to see the splendor there.

I wore my new Asolo boots for this hike and got hotspots along both big toes. That is not good. The good news is that Kevin's bad mood had subsided as soon as we hit the trail. Steve and Kevin get along very well and those two talked about work-related issues. Once we got back home there was no indication that Kevin had started today in an extremely foul disposition.