Two Gals & a Tripod: Adjust Your Altitude

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

It was important that our adventures fall on a weekday, because of Jana’s required one day of PTO that she had to use. So, we took our weekly hikes on Thursdays or Fridays since we were both mainly working from home (with Jana occasionally going into the office to see patients).

In a way, this was nice because it meant the trails would (hopefully) be less crowded than a weekend morning or afternoon. Even if more people were working from home during quarantine times, not everyone had the luxury of being able to play hooky one day a week.

We’d pack up for our hikes the night before—I’d bring the meat sticks and sliced apples; Jana would bring the hard seltzers and trail mix. And we’d try to leave as early as possible (within reason) because we often had a two or three-hour drive ahead of us before we even got to each trailhead.

After our first hike at Chiricahua National Monument— where my souvenir was a super awesome sunburn outlining where my CamelBak strap clicks across my chest— we made sure to load up on the sunscreen. And I made sure to carefully select the shirts and hiking apparel I wore from then on.

Since we had decided to hike in as many areas of Arizona as possible, the next place we ventured to was up north in the Prescott National Forest. I knew the drive well because up until that year my grandparents lived in Prescott Valley, so the curves and turns of that drive were (and still are) all too familiar.

Granite Mountain: Hike #2

Early on we fell into our respective roles--Jana was our planner, photographer, and drink provider; I was our morale lifter, snack keeper, and occasional compass. For our second hike, she selected a trail I'd never heard of from one of her dad's old guide books—a hike called Granite Mountain Trail.

For this trail, we had to park away from the trailhead, cross over the road, and walk a short distance to reach our starting point. On the way, we passed by three older women on horseback and a few other passersby. The path took us through a small covering of trees and over a few small creeks before we were out in the open.

We played leapfrog with the women on horseback alternating who was in the lead on the trail until we reached a fork where the women opened a gate and turned left. We continued to the right and made our way to the beginning of our incline.

I come from a family of fast walkers and have historically had tall friends with legs much longer than mine, so I've learned to keep a pretty quick pace. Jana is no different and we began to climb at a decent clip before we both started breathing very heavily.

It was then we realized we had made a pretty rookie mistake: we had not factored in the altitude. Our starting elevation was much higher than our elevation in the valley (Prescott's elevation is 5,367 ft) with a 1,656 ft elevation gain overall. We gasped for air and stopped often over an incline that did not look that steep to the eye, but gradually crawled up the side of the mountain in long, swooping switchbacks.

Jana apologized for having to stop so often and seemed frustrated, but I assured her that I could feel the burn in my lungs all too well and that she was by no means "slowing us down". I had felt bad for slowing us down on our first hike, particularly when my hip was bothering me on my way back to the car.

So, we took our time. We continued on with the same rhythm for a while--walk a little, stop a little, drink a little, and so on. She and I tried our best to breathe deep.

As we passed other hikers we also tried to keep our distance, but parts of the trail were narrow as we went higher up so we'd have to stop and wait for the person or pair to pass us before we continued and vice versa. I took those stationary periods as extra moments to catch my breath and was thankful for the small reprieve.

Eventually, we reached a part of the treeline where the trees had been scorched by a previous forest fire. That section of the earth was as black, deep brown, and gray as the rocks around us and the trunks looked more like they were made of stone than wood. A visual reminder of how important it is to preserve our national parks and forests.

There was still a fair way to go and so we traveled up farther towards the top of the mountain. As we rounded another curve, we saw an older man with a walking stick descending. We stopped and waited for him to pass by us, but instead, he walked down diagonally through another portion of the trail and said (with more pep in his step than I was feeling at the moment), "I've always wanted to try this shortcut."

That made us both smile because it seemed he'd been on this trail many times before. He looked like he must have been in his seventies, but still exuded such an energetic spirit; Jana and I agreed that we hoped we'd still be hiking when we made it to his age—fingers crossed.

When it seemed we couldn't go up much farther without stepping out directly into the sky, the ground leveled. We had reached the plateau of the mountain, but we were sure there was a better view, so we continued to walk left--hugging the curve of the mountain until we came to a large rock shelf.

We weren't the only ones who had ventured that far left and there was a man by himself on the shelf taking in the view and what appeared to be his lunch. We had seen him at the beginning of the hike, but he had taken off and we never quite caught up to him until then.

He noticed us looking for a place to spread out and rest and offered up his spot, "I'm done with my lunch and this is the best view--take this rock," he said.

He was right, of course, and once he packed up his things, we switched places and thanked him for being so kind.

One of the things I love most about hiking and other outdoor adventures is that (for the most part) it attracts certain kinds of people. People who appreciate solitude and spectacular vistas. Ones who want to take new shortcuts or share their rock shelves with strangers so they can take in the best view.

It's also an activity that really pushes you to go beyond your depths, but once you make it through the rough patches, you get to the most amazing views. I'll tell you now that the rough trip up that mountain was totally worth it and that Whiteclaws, apples, and meat sticks have never tasted better than after a good climb.

~~~

2. Granite Mountain: Difficulty: 4.5/5; Scenery: 4/5

Comments After the Hike:

Becca: Make sure you make it all the way to the rock shelf—keep going and veer slightly to the left—there’s an incredible vista.

Jana: Seeing the aftermath of the forest fires made me realize how much we need to protect our national parks.