Gina, one of the gals in the hiking meetup saw my photos of Slavin Gulch and regretted missing the event. She asked if I was interested in going back there today so she could see it. So I thought, why not?! That place is so magical, and the water won't last long. We drove in her yellow Jeep Wrangler, my first time ever in a Jeep.
The hike was the same route as that on Sunday, ending at the Hoodoo Saddle 2.7 miles uphill. Gina had no trouble keeping up with me. We were both taking a lot of photos, and this time I brought my Canon 7D instead of the Lumix. The only difference from the hike is that we went straight to Hoodoo Saddle before getting into the water, and we spent a lot of time at each pool taking photos. Minnie came along again and did her usual frolicking in the water and fetching sticks.
We sat under the waning shade near the shrine. I told Gina I always feel a vortex when I'm in this area. These mountains were the Apache's last stand, and I wondered out loud how many lives were lost here. There are spirits here, and not all of them are happy. It's not a place I'd want to spend the night in. It's bad enough that locals say there are mountain lions here. (That would make sense, considering all the potential rock dens, but I've never seen deer higher up.)
The only differences today is that we were the only ones in the area! I picked up some of the aluminum cans from weekend revelers, including an old yellow frisbee that looked like it belonged to another dog and which Minnie quickly claimed as her own.
It also felt warmer today, with less of a cool breeze, and there were more clouds above (which means I got less sun burn walking back to the car). We didn't get back to the trail head parking area until after 3pm
I plan on leading a winter hike to the Abril mine, an abandoned zinc-silver mine that last operated in 1952. Relics still remain there. Perhaps more exploration is needed by vehicle, though. I haven't hiked to the mine in 2009 and some things can change en route.
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