Mt. Humphries Hike

Group total: 5 humans 4 canines

Distance to top: 14.6 miles

Successful summits: 2 humans

Time 7.75 hours

Since Micki of "Sticki" is not able to mountain bike just yet, because of the injury to her arm suffered on the 4th of July, she wanted to go hike Mt. Humphries. At the highest point, Humphries tops out at 12,648ft. No small task considering Flagstaff is at about 8000ft. The camping spot is Lockett Meadow on the NE side and sits at about 9000ft.

We enter Lockett Meadow and head to Camp spot #3. We were greeted by happy faces and hello's and barks of joy from Mousse. Of course, Rylee, Emma and Jessi had to do the proper meet and greet as well.

Brooke and I proceeded to erect our tent of years past, "the thunder dome". We have not "tent" camped in about 6 years since we had the Vanagon. I miss the Vanagon. (stupid me)

So anyways, we set up camp and enjoyed the rest of the evening "shooting the shit" and waiting for Thad, Sarah's other half. Sarah caught a ride up with Sticki, and was to ride on Saturday with Thad (now called "SARAD" apparently) on their mountain bikes. The early Saturday silence was broken by the barking hello's from the squadron of canines parked at our camp when Ken pulled up at 5:59am. Ken is always timely, if not always early. I like that about Ken, some other riders, who shall remain nameless because they suck, should take note about being timely.

Once up and awake, we proceeded to fill our bellies with the finest oatmeal this side of the "divide". Not that rock and mortar crap, but the awesome full of preservatives and sugar kind. YUM. Sprinkle some berries on top and you've got it made. That is until someone broke out some Quiche!!! WTF! Quiche......really!!!! Steve went into the Sticki Hilton, only to retrieve a nice slab of the best looking quiche I'd seen in awhile. He sat there taunting us with every bite, inside the flakey crust lay a smathering of carmelized onions, gooey cheese, eggs......oh my!! I only know the crust was flakey because that is all that Brooke and I got after Steve felt his belly was content. Thanks Steve.

All packed up and ready to head up the mountain, we said goodbye to Sarad, not to be confused with NORAD, and we were out. Excitement abound, the dogs were happy to get out and be dogs. About a mile in, Brooke and I were thinking, " I feel a little fatigued already.....maybe 3 consecutive days of mountain biking that preceeded this event was not a good idea". Carry on, shake it off.

This was our first official resting spot above Lockett Meadow. You can see Mousses' tongue almost touching the grassy floor. At this point, all the dogs were doing quite well. We double dosed Rylee with pain meds and gave Emma the same to ensure an full day of pain-free exercise. Jessi did not need such meds because she is part dog - part bionic and was sent back to us by John Conner from the future. (see Terminator) Jessi must have done about 25 miles of hiking/running / hunting. She is crazy fit "German Engineering" if you will.

This looking back into Lockett Meadow...and Sunset Crater in the distance.

On our way once again, the sky was starting to fill with clouds. There was also a couple of fires in the area which didn't make for the best view, but still nice. The clouds grew thicker and the route even steeper. We emerged from the tree line to see the summit, only to find that the rest of the way was covered in lava cinders. If you've hiked or climbed in cinders, you know they are not kind to dogs feet. I soon called my 3 hunds and we were headed back to the first rendezvous point on Tattoine.

Mousse carried on, as she had Ruff Wear dog booties on. 3 of 4 to be exact, but still better than nothing. Now at the first rendezvous, the four of us decide it's lunch time. I break out a.....wait for it..........SUBWAY sandwich and other goodies. We all chowed down and drink fluids to our hearts content. Rylee and Emma decided to take naps as Jessi just followed her nose where ever it may lead. Jessi did nap for about 15 minutes, but that was it. She did really well, she is always a good trail dog when biking, but unsure if the 'slow" pace of the hike would bore her, causing her to run off. Sure she caught some hints of wildlife, but always was in ear shot and always returned from another "hunt".

About an 90 minutes later I hear some familiar voices. It's Steve and Brooke and ..........that's it. "Where are the others" I ask. Brooke told me that Micki and Ken decided to summit. Steve and Brooke didn't feel like scrambling up the rest of the way and were worried about having enough water to make the return trip. 30 minutes later Ken and Micki returned, we all gathered up our gear to make our descent back to base camp. About half way down the clouds cleared and the sun felt even hotter. Water on the low side and 9 mouths to keep moist was a tall order. We came to a pump house where there was a spigot from a natural spring and we all filled up and the dogs lapped it up like it was going out of style. Only about a mile from camp, I thought to myself " I was done with this hike about 2 miles ago". It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either, the trail was full of "baby head" rocks and loose footing, partly due to my tired legs. It only took 2 hours to get down but man, it felt longer that that. Once at camp the girls ate some food, Brooke and I broke down the "thunder dome" and went to pack the "Subie", only to find this in the way.........a very spent Jessi.

We headed into Flag and had some grub at Pita Jungle, one of those "bean paste places", all healthy and stuff. But always good. Sarad met us there and had some drinks. Soon after we headed back to Casa de Chino. As you can tell, Jessi's pictures tell what we're all feeling.......tired. But all in all a great time.

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