OK, I admit, what I did today was stupid. I could have gotten seriously hurt and no one would have known where I was. I have a scraped left arm, two bruised hands and a cut below my left knee. None of these wounds are serious, but any one of them could have been.
I had told Kevin that I was going up Ash Canyon today. It was a half-day for me at the school and I wanted to take the opportunity for a nice steep trail. The four-mile trek up Nipple Peak is steep and short, but also exposed on a hot day like today. I waited too long to get started today, which was my first mistake.
A school bus was parked at the lower Ash Canyon trailhead so I drove to the upper trailhead three miles further. I didn't want the dogs to scare off any school kids and just drove on. After letting the dogs play in the water we began our ascent via an illegal trail, which was a well-trodden path along a dry drainage. There was lots of discarded Mexican trash here, something I hadn't seen in a while.
This first section wasn't bad as it followed a fairly gentle sloped, sandy drainage with little impeding brush. JUMEX cans and plastic water bottles littered the sides of this trail. When this trail intersected with the main trail I should have stayed on that main trail, but instead followed Sadie along the illegal trail through a shady manzanita grove going due south straight up a steep, rocky and dry drainage. It was 1:30pm and quite hot and I didn't mind the detour through the shade.
This section was trashier than the first section, and after a stop at a large aligator juniper tree, it got even steeper. This trail showed signs of severe erosion and heavy slide. I really should have turned around here. Parts of the eroded slide were several feet deep. Sara and Sammy were showing difficulty maneuvering up the slide. But my pride said otherwise and we trekked on. I could see the top of the ridge.
I stopped a few long times to enjoy the view and give the dogs a break. All three were panting hard. The San Pedro valley was visible from most of this trail, and I imagined the joy the illegals must feel seeing that after trekking up from the other side. But how they do this trail at night is hard to imagine, unless it is on this trail that they fall and hurt themselves. The only good thing about descending this way is the tree cover overhead.
Knowing I was on a heavily-used illegal trail I remained alert for any other human noises. The dogs kept alert the entire time and I thought I heard short voices as well, but luckily never encountered anyone. Anyone who would have seen me in the condition I was in would probably have been shocked to see someone going up this steep slope with a camera around her neck and three big dogs providing security.
Emory oaks, yuccas and manzanitas were the primary vegetation here as the slope got steeper and steeper and suddenly the "hike" became a treacherous rock climb.
This climb wouldn't have been bad had there been something to hold on to. At one point I had lost all grip as there was nothing nearby to catch me and I slid. There went the left arm, with superficial laceration above my elbow. It stung but didn't bleed. My fullsize camera was still slung around me. This wasn't looking good. And depite being near the top of the ridge at this point, I knew I had no other option but to turn around. It was 3:30pm now and if something had happened to me here, not even the USBP guys would have wanted to trek up to this point to get me out.
I aborted the mission and turned around, sliding back down to more secure footing before packing my camera and leashes away. I slid hard two more times, both times gashing my hands. By the time we got back down to where we had taken the illegal trail, my left knee was also gashed but not seriously. I was covered in grey dust. I must have looked real nice to anyone watching me.
The dogs were tired when I was back home. Even Sadie collapsed on the back porch with her packmates; Sara looked sore from the many jumps up rocks she had to do, and even Sammy looked exhausted from the climb. We didn't go far mileage wise but even my knees felt we got some elevation training in. But looking back now, I must say I didn't much enjoy today's adventure as it could easily have ended tragically. The only good thing about today's jaunt is that I now know where that illegal trail goes from off the main trail and I have no desire to ever go up it again!
Kevin was home by now, too and noticed my cut-up arm and leg. As I write this four hours later my left arm and both hands are still stinging. The knee is the lighest injury of them all and doesn't hurt at all. One of these days I'm going to take a serious fall and that will be the end of me. I have got to avoid these off-trail steep bushwhacks!
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