Carr Peak

I didn't hike yesterday but instead had a quick hike up Carr Peak planned. I am so glad I made it today, as I still have my Whitney lungs and made it to the summit in a PR of 1:02 hours. This is 20 minutes faster than my July ascent before Whitney.

My first impression today was how green and lush everything was. Wildflowers were everywhere, from yellow daisies and sunflowers, penstemons, verbena, fleabane, red thistle and a few others I didn't recognized. Even the red salvia was popping up in the higher elevations.

The skies were mostly overcast today and it rumbled in parts. The low cloud cover made this a nice, cool hike. I never stopped along the way, either, and neither did Sadie, until we got to the small creek crossing near the aspens.

The aspen grove today was covered in yellow Columbine, which resembled shooting stars. Most of the aspens' leaves have fallen off from the spotted virus (which will make the autumn colors blah next month) but there was so much green everywhere it was like hiking up a rainforest.

Several members from the Southern Arizona Hiking Club (SAHC) were also climbing up the peak. It was a busy area today! Sadie was off leash but I reassured others that Sadie "was a nice dog."

"But I am not nice" replied one older woman who dramatically raised her arms up to make herself thinner around Sadie so as to not get near Sadie. I kept my mouth shut.

When I got to the summit at 10:15am there already was another woman there taking photographs with a monopod. She was the hike leader for the SAHC. I had joined SAHC when we first got to Arizona, but never renewed our membership because the club forbids children, dogs and guns on their hikes. (It's the dogs I have a problem with, although I also understand why dogs are not allowed)

"Oh, so you're from the no kids/no dogs/ no guns group!" I said, which, in hindshight, didn't come out all that nicely. It was no wonder then that the hike leader didn't stay to chat with me.

"Gotta go down and check on the others, there's one who's absolutely petrified of getting caught in the rain" and off she went.

Another SAHC member who came up as I was ready to head back down turned out to be a German native who works for the UoA botany labs in Tucson, Wolfgang, a passionate naturalist. We ended up hiking down together until our paths divided 3/4 from the trailhead parking lots and I continued on to Reef Vista. Had it not been for him I would have raced back down to the parked car as thunder was audible in the distance.

Wolfgang has hiked all over the world. His passion for wildlife, flowers, geology, oceanography and astronomy is amazing. He also brought along his Canon EOS xs which he kept around his neck.

If it hadn't been for Wolfgang pointing it out to me, I would not have noticed the thousands of lady bug beetles mating in the shrubbery around me. I thought the reddish hue was mere lichen and didn't give them a second thought. August is the mating season for these beetles.

So lady bugs and late summer wildflowers are what made this month's trek up Carr Peak memorable. Carr Falls was also running quite nicely today.

The entire hike took no more than 2:45 hours. If I can continue this fast pace, I want to hike up Carr Peak more often just to stay in shape. I got back shortly after noon with the entire day still ahead of me. If it hadn't been for the threatening storm clouds overhead, I would have added two more miles to check on Bathtub springs. That will have to be for another day now.