Lost Dutchman State Park, Apache Junction, Arizona
Rich and poor have this in common: the LORD is the Maker of them all. ~ Proverbs 22:2
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. While we were resting at our destination today, Blaine received an email from Grand Canyon National Park telling us that our reservation has now been canceled! If you recall, the other day we received one that said we could stay because we were self-contained, so what changed???
We’ll tackle that obstacle tomorrow. Today’s is enough for today.
There should be a large note in the Park brochure – You should consider carefully if you have any of the following conditions: faint of heart, slow of speed, short of leg, or suffering an infirmity. Well, guess what? I have all those! And yet . . . .
Our pilgrimage began with the Siphon Draw Trail, and included an elevation gain of 1,000-feet, which is daunting enough.
Told him the top of this was where we were going.
Ha!! I wish!! Little did I know!
It’s also shaped like a flat iron.
Blaine tells me that’s where we’re headed!
Are you kidding me??? : )
Then we sort of sometime, somehow, moved onto the undesignated, unmaintained Flat Iron Trail (there are no signs so you don’t really know when that happens) and it has an elevation gain of an additional 2,000-feet. YIKES!!
You’ll see plenty of pictures of this hike, and you might even say to yourself, “That looks hard!” But trust me . . . it was much more difficult than it looks! And although it was only about 6 miles round trip, it was easily the most difficult trail we’ve ever taken on, because it was all straight uphill and 80% of it was rock climbing! And besides using every muscle in your body to scramble and claw your way up, it also required scooting down most of the way. At least for me. And yes, my shorts are miraculously still intact – not a hole, or tear or worn place anywhere. Just a lot of dirt.
Along the way, God provided people at just the right time to help us out, either with directions (meaning the proper path or easiest way to go up), or encouragement on some particularly difficult places, or even offers to help us out in the most difficult places. So we’re grateful!
And did you notice Blaine?
See all the people?
We have to walk up that wash, but we have to get to it first.
But it wasn’t as scary as it looks.
Thats Flatiron in the background.
Apparently the water level can get really high!
Mine became way more of a hinderance than a help.
It took me a while to feel safe, or even to be able to stand as much as I did.
Well, no wonder! Look what’s behind me!!
And took a picture of Blaine, taking pictures of what was behind me.
I don’t exactly know why, but it almost brought me to tears.
Thankfully, I persevered and with a short break at the “top” was able to carry on.
Blaine read online to bring gloves. We now have them on, and we’re very glad to have them.
Wonderful app, that AllTrails!
He found a nice rock to hide them under.
Can’t even see them! : )
Let’s just hope we can find the place on our way back down!
Gives some perspective. : )
My motto today? Don’t look back or down or up!
Keep your eyes focused on each step only!
It’s kind of arch shaped.
Lord, give me strength and endurance!
We’re getting closer!
We need a boost of energy!
Really??
The final is over there on the left,
but look what we found up here on the right . . . .
I am NOT going there. . .
That’s where we’re headed!
is where I thought we were going when we left this morning.
We are now well above that!
Silly girl!
They’re super tiny and with the green background . . .
Things like that don’t usually let me take their picture.
So funny how that works.
But, oh!!! The views at the top!!!!! Breathtaking!!! And then some!!! In all directions!! And of course the climb up was almost as spectacular!
Hal – – le – lu – ia!! Hal – – le – lu – ia!!
Of course there were!
They all passed us! : )
The chipmunks here are more gray rather than the chestnut brown we have back home in Ohio.
It was pretty obvious they’re used to people feeding them.
And many may look similar to you, but they’re going in anyway.
Hey. We climbed all the way up here! It deserves a special commemoration!
Just some trail mix, oranges and chocolate chip cookies.
At least until we came along. : )
We need to get back down, and it’s gonna take a while.
And we’re runnin low on provisions.
Blaine said look up and smile, so I posed in the direction he was aiming.
I’m thinking it’s the path we took. : )
And let’s not forget, we also saw our first blooming cactus! We thought it a bit strange they’d be blooming at the higher elevation first.
Blaine estimated our time at 6 hours, but he forgot he was hiking with me (see above), so it actually took us exactly 8 hours. Let’s see . . . that’s roughly .68 miles per hour aka tortoise speed. (Yep. I looked it up. I always strive for accuracy in my dramatizations. 😊) It’s a good thing we left at 7:30am.
I suspect we’ll be paying for it tomorrow. We already are with tired feet and limbs.
But we’re so proud to have completed it, despite getting passed by almost everyone – both on the way up and on the way down. Partly because of me moving so slowly. But also because we were far and away the oldest people on the trail.
On the way back (once we reached a more level path), Blaine asked me if I was glad I did it. This was my response. . . .
I’m glad I was physically able to do it
I’m glad I was mentally able to do it (a couple of places caused me some short-term anxiety, but I pushed through it)
I’m glad Blaine was able to find the hiding place for our hiking sticks on the way back down, since they became a hinderance rather than a help about a third of the way up
I’m glad Alltrails strongly suggested taking gloves along (saved our hands during all the rock climbing and gave us better grip)
I’m glad I didn’t really know what was in store, or I might’ve said ‘no’ before we even started : )
I’m glad we got to see cactus blooming
I’m glad the weather was perfect
I’m glad the streams were low enough we could make it to the top
I’m glad for all the helpers along the way
I’m glad to have gotten to the top because it was spectacular
I’m glad to have gotten to the bottom (that was pretty spectacular too!)
So yes. I was glad. For many reasons – even more than I listed here. But I doubt I’d ever do it again. Although, who knows. Maybe it’s like childbirth and you forget the pain for the joy of the child.
Nah. I think I’ll just be older and wiser the next time. 😊