Carr Peak with Zeke and seven others

I finally made it up the peak again, via a group hike I led with HollyW.  We advertised this as an aspen hike which attracted some new people to the SV Hikers

We met at 7am in the Lower Carr Canyon parking lot.  We were a total of eight: HollyW, Bonnie, Lucy, Carol, Rob, Karen, Chuck and I and we carpooled in three vehicles.  We got to the Old Sawmill trailhead at 7:40am and took off in a cool breeze.  It was 54F and I feared it would get colder as we ascended, but I never had to put on my sweatshirt. It turned out to be a good day to hike the peak although the fall colors peaked last week when it was much hotter.

We quickly broke into two groups, with Rob, Karen, Chuck and I up front and Holly and the other gals in the rear.  Holly said she would take care of the rear and ended up doing a great job, allowing me to focus on the faster group.  That really helped, as fast hikers shouldn't have to wait for slow hikers and slow hikers shouldn't feel like they are holding everyone else up.

The first thing I noticed was how dry the flora was.  All the flowers from two months ago were now dead, and what few remained were wilting.  Normally October  is the last good month for autumn flowers, but our drought has changed everything.  Even the common mullen, which by now would be stalked with tall white flowers, had wilted before flowering. The red salvia was dry.  I saw pine trees with brown needles, oak trees whose leaves went from green to brown.  The colors were not spectacular.  Only the Arizona ash trees were still a bright yellow. The mountainside is starting to look like it did in 2011, before our big wildfire.  It's scary.

I ended up walking by myself with Zeke.  I kept my distance just to reassure others. One group of three women put their face masks on as I walked by. The only time it was difficult was on Carr Peak.   There were seven people already at the peak, then us eight arrived.  When we left 30 minutes later, two more groups arrived.  The trail was a super highway today, and the Old Sawmill trailhead parking lot was crowded when we got back to our cars by noon.

 I ate half of a chicken parmesan sandwhich and gave Zeke two inches of it (he wanted more than just the chicken jerky I got him).  I had to tie him to a shrub so that he would stop annoying Karen with those sad, begging eyes.  She was eating some duck meat and he wanted it.

The wind was at its fiercest as we got on the Carr Peak spur trail, but the actual peak was mostly calm.  Others were wrapped in jackets but I only wore my fishing shirt.  I took my hat off to avoid losing it in the wind.

Carr Canyon Road was just as busy as the trail.  Peole were starting a hike after noon. I drove behind Rob who also had Karen and Chuck in it, and then Chuck, Rob and I each drank a Kiltlifter in the parking lot before departing.  I ended up waiting for Holly and her group to arrive before leaving at 1:30pm.

I finished the day with a 4pm river walk with Susan, this time leaving Sadie at home.  She needed a break after two days of two miles each day.

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