Don't Try This Away From Home

 Rather than the disclaimer so often heard when watching something on a tv show or commercial: "Don't try this at home!", at risk of TMI I'm going to share something I learned while on that hiking trip to Sedona with the grandkids last month.

Being a lady of a certain age, who has borne four children and has the resultant bladder tendencies to show for it (or, rather, hope they don't show enough for other people to see!) I've noticed some things as the years go on.

1.  Being sick with a racking cough can be embarrassing if it's been more than about 10 minutes since I used the bathroom.

2. Likewise a sudden hard sneeze.  Both of which instances can create extra laundry.

3. Ditto trying to ride a horse with a jolting trot. (Several years ago I instituted a 'pee before mounting' rule, LOL, but sometimes the trot is just too rough for even that to work.)

4. Grandmas don't jump.  Even if our knees are game, our bladders aren't.

5. Likewise large steps up or down while hiking/rock scrambling can create extra laundry. 

Too much TMI?  Ok, you probably want to stop reading now.  Proceed at your own risk; don't say I didn't warn you.

Still curious?  Read on, especially if you are also a woman of a certain age who has borne many babies.  Consider this a Public Service Announcement.

Period Underwear.  You know, the stuff that is supposed to alleviate your fears of unexpected period abundance and is even lately touted as being useful for leaky mom/grandma bladders?  Due to observation #3, above, in the last couple of years I have invested in some of the miracle undies even though at the advanced age of over 50 I'm hoping every period is the last one (please. . . can I be done yet?!?)   

And, while they do help with the jolting trot situation (or, sudden spooks on a young horse IYKYK), I can't say they work well for numbers 4 & 5.  Those two items being the reason I packed them for our Sedona trip.

In retrospect, it was a great idea, but with testing it failed miserably.  Did I end up with wet shorts/leggings during our hiking excursions?  Nope.  In that respect, they did a great job of absorbing whatever little liquid bits came their way.  (Told you this post really pushes the limit of what's considered TMI.)  Nobody on the trails could tell I'm a lady of a certain age who has borne many children just by walking behind me.

However, how other hikers didn't wonder why, late in the hike, I walked like a toddler with a giant wet diaper, I don't know.  Because that's what I felt like after hiking, and sweating, for miles.  Like I should be making a squishing sound with every step.

Those period undies are super absorbent, and very discreet.  However, they sucked up every single drop of SWEAT that was in their vicinity.  And hiking is a sweaty undertaking, more so when you're on the difficult trails with rock climbing or having to take large steps onto/hop off of small boulders.

Based on this highly unscientific trial, I'd give them five stars for absorbency. 

Five stars for wearing while riding young/spooky horses and/or rough trots.  

But for wearing while hiking??  Zero stars. They would be okay if there was somewhere to strip out of them immediately and replace with a pair that didn't hold five pounds of sweat at the end of the hike. Definitely don't try this away from home.

Sedona With Grandkids

 DH and I took K3 and Toad (the two oldest grandkids) to Sedona Arizona for a hiking trip over their Spring Break.  It was a trip we'd first thought of after visiting Sedona ourselves in March 2023  and decided, last Fall, to finally make happen.  

There's been lots of changes in their lives in the past two years, and we wanted to give them a rest from it rather than being home (in an again changing family) all the time over Spring Break (where they would most likely spend the majority of their days playing video games or watching movies/shows on TV).  We briefly thought about bringing their little brother Rascal along too, but he's much younger and  with much shorter legs would have had a hard time keeping up on the strenuous hiking trails.  At nearly 13 and 10 3/4, K3 and Toad could handle it; plus it was something that acknowledged them as Big Kids rather than Little Kids like the rest of our grandchildren. (Not to mention that Rascal seems to be handling the changes at home easier.)

Like when DH and I went to Sedona in 2023, this trip we flew into Phoenix and got a hotel for the night.  After a good night's sleep, and a nice breakfast, we took the kids to Camelback Mountain.  They had seen pictures of it from our previous trip, and wanted to try it for themselves.

Unfortunately for all of us, there were a lot of other people wanting to hike Camelback that morning and the parking lots at the Echo Canyon trailhead and at the Cholla trailhead were both full. We drove back and forth between the two for a while, hoping to get a parking spot at either one.  We finally did get one at Echo Canyon, but with the parking delay we didn't get on the trailhead until close to noon. Also not in our favor, the temperature was all ready over 85 degrees, and with the sun directly overhead, it was rapidly getting hotter. Remember, we'd come from Michigan where we'd just had a warm spell in the upper 40's.

All of which to say, we didn't summit Camelback this trip. DH in particular struggled (partly, we think, because the kids were keeping a much zippier pace than we had on our previous trip) and he ended up sitting on the side of the trail in a semi-shady spot while K3, Toad and I went on ahead.  

The three of us started up the rock scramble portion, but about halfway up that, K3 and Toad asked if we could turn around and just go back down.  Since I was rather winded and hot myself (keeping up with the young whippersnappers), and I was a bit concerned that they had all ready drank more than half of their water, and I was really worried about DH,  I agreed we could call it good where we were at.  

In retrospect, I kind of wish I'd told the kids to keep going, as the summit really wasn't much further over the top of that rock scramble.  Oh well.  Better to turn around than to lose a hiker to heat exhaustion.  Next time we'll plan to be at the trailhead by 8 a.m. to beat both the heat and the glut of hikers needing parking.

From there, we headed up to Sedona, where we checked into our resort, took the kids out to an early dinner at the delicious Mexican restaurant we'd discovered on that 2023 trip (Javelina Cantina), hit the grocery store for food supplies, then back to the resort for an evening swim in the pool.

And that kind of set our schedule for the next three days: 

• get up about 6 a.m., have breakfast, 
• hit the hiking trails about 8 a.m., hike for several hours/miles,
• back to the resort and make lunch, 
• swim in the pool/soak in the hot tub (really was great for keeping the hips and knees from stiffening up after using them hard on the trails)
• dinner (usually grilled or otherwise cooked in the kitchenette of our suite)
• K3, Toad, and usually DH had a post-dinner swim while I read either poolside or on our patio depending on how busy/loud the pool area was.

Our first excursion in Sedona was to hike to Devil's Bridge.  This time we parked in the Mezcal trailhead lot and took that trail.  Although the kids did their best to act like they weren't having fun (because, you know, tweens), they were typically exploring up ahead and after several reminders not to get too far in front of us, they did get the idea to stop and wait for us to catch up.  Most times we caught them taking pictures of scenery while they waited.  (What?!?  Taking pictures of somewhere you aren't having fun??)

Other times we found them taking advantage of a raised, shady perch a little to the side of the trail.

Of course we did hear the question "How much longer?" several times.  And after having both DH and I usually respond "we're almost there, just a little bit further", and also hearing other hikers coming back from where we were going often say "Keep going, you're almost there; it's just a little further", by the middle of the second day the kids started to joke that "Just a little further" really was hiker code for "Five more miles".  Which isn't true, as the longest hike we did in a day was 5.5 miles round trip.  The others were only about 4 miles each.

That 5.5 miler was on the Soldier Pass trail, the next day.  It was kind of a long day, partly because the parking lot at the trailhead wasn't open for the season, and we had to park down at a municipal park, then walk up a road and through a residential area to get to the trail.  So, of course, on the way back to the car we were all hot, sweaty, weary, running on the last of our water, out of snacks and about an hour past lunch time.

Extra mileage for parking aside, it was a great hike and one that we will definitely plan on doing again.  We saw three great features on the trail, and didn't even go all the way to the Pass for the vista view (we were tired, had hit the 'used half our water' mark, the kids were playing the "how much longer?" record on repeat. . .)  So next time we'll be all in and make it to the Pass. (And hopefully the trailhead parking lot will be open!)

This time, we marveled at  Devil's Kitchen, 

Saw the Seven Sacred Pools (which the kids were a bit disappointed weren't anything they could swim in)

Hiked/rock scrambled up to a big cave (which I didn't get a good picture of), and nearly to the big cave the kids went and explored a little cave, in which they were told (and took a picture of to show their friends) was a little Jesus statue.  So then the joke was that over Spring Break DH and I had dragged them through the wilderness where they found Jesus.  (Irreverent humor, hopefully no reader is offended.)

The little cave with Jesus.

Our third hiking destination in Sedona this trip was Cathedral Rock.  This was another spectacular, and sometimes physically and mentally brutal, hike.  Definitely a must-do again. 

(Ha ha, while proofreading this I'm rereading my descriptions of the hikes and wondering how many readers think I must be a sadist: "brutal" "strenuous" often followed by "must do again!".)  

The vast majority of the trail was over smooth rock (alternately steep and somewhat terrifying) , and you needed to watch for either the rock cairns or the painted blazes on the rock to know where to go next.

My favorite photo from our trip,

about 2/3 of the way up Cathedral Rock.

You get up a ways, and you think "wow, I must be just about there, I've climbed pretty high all ready", and then you keep following the cairns/blazes around this turn and that turn and another steep & narrow climb or two, and you're sure you must be close to the end of the trail.

The steep way up

Same part of the trail, on our way back down.

And you're going, and hikers coming down tell you how great the view is at the end, and to keep going because you're-almost-there-it's-just-a-little-further (and your grandkids roll their eyes because apparently you're going to insist they hike another five miles to get to the end), and before you know it, you are looking at the back side of the pillars that you took a picture of the front of just about twenty minutes ago.

And that is the end of the trail.  And yes, there was a sign, attached to a rock cairn just before a huge drop-off, that said END OF TRAIL.  And you took a picture of your grandkids by that sign, and they both insisted you text them the picture so they could show it to all their friends when they get home.  And you know it was a great trip and they truly enjoyed all those miles of being dragged through the wilderness.

But that wasn't the end of the trip.  Our flight home from Phoenix wasn't until the following evening, so unknown to K3 and Toad, DH booked the four of us for an 8 a.m. off-road Jeep tour (the 8 a.m. tours were 25% cheaper than the tours from 9:00 on, so really it was like we bought 3 and got one person free!).  The tour took us on a really rocky, winding, rough road where we saw many features of the Mogollon Rim.  The scenery was beautiful, and our driver/guide made it extra fun for the kids by punching the gas pedal hard at every bump that was shaped right to give the Jeep some air between it's tires and the ground.  When they weren't shrieking, they were laughing, or at least sporting giant smiles.

All in all, I think they had a lot of fun.  And you know what?  Not once did they watch TV, or play video games that entire week.  I think it's good to expose them to some fun in nature and let them know they can be happy without screens entertaining them.

Of course now Rascal and Faline want to know when it's their turn to fly away on an airplane and go on a hiking trip with DH and I.  Our tentative plan for that is about three years from now, when they will be about 9 and 8, and have long enough legs and enough stamina to go for miles.

A Hiking Vacation Part 2: Sedona

We arrived in Sedona on the evening of the third day of our trip.  Thankfully, the weather had turned from gray clouds and rain, to blue skies with white puffy clouds (if any), sunshine, and mornings in the low 40s that turned into days with a high around 60.  It was gorgeous!  And the scenery was too.

On the fourth day of our hiking vacation, we had one particular destination in mind: Subway Cave.  We'd originally planned to hike Cathedral Rock, but the trails there were still closed due to flooding.  So we went with a main attraction with a trail that was muddy, but not underwater or washed out.

To get to Subway Cave, you first start on the Boynton Canyon vista trail.

You hike a ways, and then you start looking for a spur trail that is identifiable not by signs or trail markers, but by a "large alligator juniper tree".  When you're from Michigan, where there is no such thing as an alligator juniper tree, you hope for the best and keep your eyes peeled.  We finally found it.  Really large, and had bark that looked like alligator skin.  

We took the trail that lead off to the right, and picked our way through a wooded area, over a mostly dry stream bed, and then up, up, up.  (We learned, during this trip, that most caves weren't in the ground, they required climbing/hiking up to and were in the rock cliffs.)

A view of Subway Cave from the outside.

Some of the trail was rock scramble, and some was walking along narrow rock ledges.  DH tripped over a smallish yucca plant while climbing one of those rock ledges, and for a brief second, I thought he and I both were going over the edge to never be seen alive again!  Thankfully although he bumped into me, I wasn't knocked backwards off my feet, and he faceplanted into the ledge rather than falling off of it.  Another new catch phrase coined during this trip:  Beware the yucca!

Up in Subway Cave, looking out the way we came.

In one portion of Subway Cave.

We didn't go into the main part, as it had a very narrow entrance and we're too big around to feel like we'd get through safely.  There's only so much flexibility and balance in 50+ year old bodies, and big bellies combined with leaning around jutting rock walls while trying to balance and walk four to five feet on a 6-8" ledge over absolutely nothing just didn't sound like something we would be successful at that day.

When we were 'done' at Subway Cave, we climbed down and went back to the Boynton Canyon Trail.  We followed that to the very end, which included many small stream crossings.  Most of which were done by very carefully crossing on stones that weren't submerged; many spots were ankle deep, and sometimes we had no choice but to step on rocks that were underwater an inch or two.

It was getting late in the afternoon by the time we reached the end of the trail, the vista.  We sat on a large rock outcropping and ate a snack while enjoying the view before heading back to the trailhead.  I think that was a little bit over six miles of hiking that day.

Boynton Canyon vista left

Boynton Canyon vista right

The fifth morning, we were up early, as we wanted to hike to Devil's Bridge before it got too crowded.  This was a very popular hike, and all accounts said you could expect to wait at least a half an hour to actually get up on it if you weren't there first thing in the morning (like, at the trailhead by about 7 a.m.)

The trail was one of the most trafficked that we'd been on, and for many parts of it you had to wait in line for your turn to go up (or down) some of the steep narrow sections that were rock scrambles.  Boy, were we extra glad we'd done Camelback Mountain on our second day, as without that successful experience on a steep technical trail we would never have pushed on all the way to the Devil's Bridge.  This was some hard, hard stuff.  But oh, so cool to make it to the top, where you actually looked down at the Devil's Bridge, and could go down the trail a bit to walk out on it. 

The Devil's Bridge, a natural arch way, way, up in the air.

Confession: we didn't actually walk on it.  There was a line with a wait of at least 20 minutes when we got to the end of the trail at the bridge, and neither of us wanted to hand our phone to a stranger that long in order to get a picture.  Nor did we want to spend probably an hour taking up space there if we went one at a time on the bridge while the other took our picture.  It took long enough, and lots of maneuvering just to get a couple pictures of it between when one group or person was on it and another.  

It was really cool though, and while it was kind of an excruciating hike to get to it, we were glad we did.  And we didn't stop there.  We decided to hike part of the Chuckwagon Trail to get back to where we'd parked.  It was a different trail than we'd accessed the Devil's Bridge Trail on, and it was less crowded.  Which was sometimes disconcerting, as some intersections weren't marked and we were basically guessing which trail was which and hoping we would end up at our vehicle sooner rather than much, much later.

different aspects of the Chuckwagon Trail

After eating the lunch we'd left in our vehicle. we drove around looking for another interesting trail that wasn't more than about three miles long.  We ended up deciding to hike to the Birthing Cave even though the most direct trailhead for that was currently flooded and you had to park near another trailhead and then do some roundabout hiking to get to the trail for the Birthing Cave.  Thankfully hikers are a pretty helpful bunch, and we were able to get directions from people we met along the trail.  It made our hike a good hour longer than it could have been, but it was another neat hike with a rewarding destination and not too many terrifying rock scramble sections.

View from one side of the Birthing Cave.

Someone's dog looking down the rock scramble that was the only way up to or down from the cave.

That day ended up being about 10 miles, and an equal number of hours, of hiking.

The next day was our final one in Sedona, and our itinerary had us driving back to Phoenix for dinner, and sleep, before flying home the next day.  We decided to not do more than three hours of hiking, so looked for a trail that wasn't too long or too challenging, to fit into that time span.  We ended up choosing to do the Teacup Trail to Coffeepot Rock, and throw in the spur that has you summiting Sugarloaf Mountain.  

It was a great choice, as there was hardly anyone else hiking it that morning.  Which was really good, as the parking area only had space for about ten vehicles.  We got the second to last open space.  And when we came out, after hiking, the lot was full with a line of cars on the street at least a dozen cars long, waiting for a parking space to open up.

view from summit of Sugarloaf 

(opposite direction) view of Sedona from summit of Sugarloaf 

Coffeepot Rock

All in all, it was the best vacation DH and I have taken in a while.  Just what we needed to recharge.  There's so much hiking to do, especially in Sedona, that we can see ourselves coming back many times and still not hiking everything there is.  We can also see ourselves bringing the grandkids (at about ages 7 & up) there sometime in the future for a hiking vacation they would really find fun too.  DH even wants to do Camelback Mountain again.  

A Hiking Vacation

Back in March, DH and I flew to Arizona for a week.  The plan was some R&R away from home, family, work.  R&R that wasn't quite sitting and vegging out.  Nope, this R&R called for lots and lots of HIKING!

The whole week before we arrived, Arizona had had unusual amounts of rain.  In fact, it rained the day we landed, and the first night we were there, and part of the first morning.  So we didn't go out hiking ASAP, but rather waited until about mid-morning until the forecast looked like the rain would let up.

Our first destination was South Mountain near Phoenix.  The trail we chose for that day was Mormon Trail to Hidden Valley. As you can see in the pictures below, the sky was cloudy, and all the recent rain had brought out the flowers.

On this section of the Mormon Trail is a feature called Fat Man's Pass.  It's some very large boulders with an extremely narrow separation between them.  Extremely narrow.  (Yes, it bears repeating.)

I was able to pass through sideways, barely.  My chest got a little squished and there was one spot I was afraid I might get stuck, but I made it!

DH, however, couldn't.  Not even sideways. Not even sucking in his belly and holding his breath. Not even two feet. So I had to squeeze back through to return to the part of the trail he was on, and we picked our way around and over the boulders to where the Pass came out.

I made it!  Looking back at DH through Fat Man's Pass.

We continued on to the Hidden Valley, where we stopped and had the lunch I'd packed in my backpack.

Looking across Hidden Valley

From there, we continued on the Mormon Trail through the Natural Tunnel and past some petroglyphs. 

DH looking like a strong man in the Natural Tunnel

It was about a 3.5 mile hike round trip.  Not bad for our first day.

The second day, which was to be our last in Phoenix until we came back to fly home, we decided to tackle Camelback Mountain.  And, because we don't know how to do moderate in anything, we chose to hike to the summit of Camelback via the Echo Canyon trail. 

Maybe if we'd seen this sign on the way to the trailhead from the parking lot, instead of on the way back, we wouldn't have attempted it.  But, we went in with the attitude that since it's and out and back trail, we could turn around at any time, no harm no foul.

Double black diamond!! Are we sadists?!?

Some of the early sections had stairs.

Some sections had railings to haul yourself up on, and small divots in the rock for footholds.

The arrow is our destination.

This photo was taken about 1/2 mile into the hike.

Honestly, this was the hardest hike I've ever done in my life.  And I loved it!  It was so much harder than the arduous hike on McCullough Gulch Trail we'd done on this trip to Colorado in 2020.  

Harder, and a whole new experience in rock scrambling.  It was so freaking steep for the vast majority of the trail.  Only about 2.5 miles out and back, but almost 1400 ft elevation change.  Agony and ecstasy.

this is the trail for a majority of the way

This hike was killer.  It took us over 5 hours to hike out, summit the mountain, and hike back.  2.5 miles.  Over five hours. We stopped a lot to catch our breath and get our heartrates down.  Why did we keep going all the way?  What happened to 'we can turn around at any point'?

Well, shortly into the hike, we were passed by a man with only one leg, using trekking poles (which all descriptions of this hike advised against poles because you would need both hands and knees on many sections), who flew by us on the first steep incline.  And we figured we could at least go as far as him, right?  If we saw him again and he was heading back down, we could legitimately call it quits.

We didn't see him again until we were on our way up the second to last hands and knees rock scramble section to the summit.  And he was on his way down from the very top.  Well then, we certainly needed to make it to the peak ourselves.  So we did.  I mean, if he could do it, we could do it, right?

view from the summit

Even though it was the most excruciating hike of our lives, DH and I are very glad we did it.  It served as a catalyst for other hikes later in the trip that probably would have been too daunting if we hadn't scaled Camelback Mountain.  And it gave us a new phrase of encouragement: "do it like a one-legged man hiking Camelback".  We're invincible now!

After that hike, we wisely or unwisely (will we be too stiff to stand up later??) got into our rental truck and drove to Flagstaff.  DH had booked us for a room up there, thinking we maybe could do a little hiking.  And if not, we could visit a few places of interest between there and Sedona, which was our main destination this trip.

On the way to Flagstaff, it poured rain and stormed. Some routes were closed due to flooding.

We saw a rainbow, something you wouldn't automatically associate with the word "Arizona".  It was cool, but my phone camera did a really crappy job of capturing it.

A bit further up the road, the rain turned into snow.  At one point it was nearly a white out.  Slushy wet snow accumulated on the road, making driving hazardous.  In fact, we drove past a recent wreck where there was an SUV on it's side in the median.

Are you sure we're in Arizona?

Looks like northern Michigan!

By the time we made it to Flagstaff the snow squall had ended.  

But, due to weather and still having an accumulation of snow on the ground from winter, there was no hiking for us.  Instead, we had a delicious dinner at the Lumberyard Brewing Company where I had a BBQ tri-tip sandwich and some yummy garlic parmesan fries. And, amazingly, neither DH nor I were too stiff or sore after our several hour drive post-Camelback.

The third morning found us on the road again, heading toward Sedona. On the way we stopped at Montezuma's Castle, Montezuma's Well, and Tuzigoot National Monument.  None of which really had hiking because there was so much flooding.  But they were cool to look at and explore up close.

super swollen river at Montezuma's Castle, trails closed

Montezuma's Castle

Montezuma's Well

(from top)

Montezuma's Well

(from bottom)

flooded out trail at Tuzigoot

ancient dwellings at Tuzigoot

From Tuzigoot, we drove to Sedona for the second half of our vacation.

To Be Continued. . . .