Carr Peak for November (Thanksgiving) with Sadie, Minnie and Zeke

Weather was forecasted to be warmer-than-normal so I made this morning my monthly climb up the peak. I took all three hiking dogs and that worked out well, as there was no one on the trail. There was no one anywhere! The people I did see were in the lower canyon, watching the sun rise from Carr Canyon Road. It was already 50F when I took off.

I left the house at 7:15am and made it to the trail head 30 minutes later. The rising sun blinded me a few times as I meandered up the road, but we made it to the trail head safely and took off at 7:50am from there. The dogs couldn't wait.

It was cool in the shade, but not very windy. I was quite surprised at how mild it was for late November. The sun was still struggling to get in the sky when I made it a mile up the trail. The cool air made the dogs go faster, so that I didn't need to stop as often for water breaks. The water fall was surprisingly frozen over, though! I stopped here for a water break for them, and trotted up. The only unique thing today was playing with the sun behind trees. Light, not color, was the theme.

All the flowers are now gone for the season. I saw a few hawks toward Miller Peak, but they stayed low as the wind was harsher the higher I got. I made it to the peak by 9:20, played fetch with the dogs for a bit, then went down. I wanted to be back home by 11am because we had plans to spend Thanksgiving in Bisbee. Kevin started the turkey early as I hiked the mountain.

The peak was breezy but not biting cold. I was lucky yet again choosing today to hike up the peak. I took a few selfies with the dogs, gave them their snacks (hot dogs) and left the peak 20 minutes later. This time I took no breaks whatsoever, just charged down the trail with the dogs behind me. I didn't even play fetch with Minnie because that just makes Sadie bark. I noticed what looked like the beginnings of a brush fire in Mexico, as smoke rose in white clouds and drifted into the atmosphere.

I managed to get back down to the truck in just under three hours. That's the best time in a while. I could have done it even faster had I not played with the dogs for a bit. I prefer to sit on top and meditate, and what better day than Thanksgiving in Arizona? People are rioting in Ferguson, MO and Oakland, CA, all because a white police officer killed a black unarmed teen.

People were now driving up the mountain as I was leaving it. So odd. I got the best time of the day, the entire peak all to myself and the dogs.