But, the weekends are still filled with adventures. On Friday (7/25/08), I finished up in the lab early and headed out to join a few of my fellow grad students at Mingus Mountain for a weekend of relaxing. It was 106 degrees out at 6 p.m. when I headed out of the Valley, and as I gradually drove higher in elevation, the temperature gradually came down. By the time I reached the top of the first set of mountains, it was 86, and soon after a high country monsoon blew across the highway, dropping the digits below 70. It was beautiful. A few hours later, I hopped off of the 17 and headed west on 279 towards Cottonwood and Jerome. It was the first time I had driven through the old mining town of Jerome, and its old, rainsoaked streets bathed in a fading twilight reminded me of my tramping days in the mountain town of Eniskerry in Ireland. I continued to climb up past the town as the sun fully set until the temperature read 55 degrees and I pulled off towards the campground. I wound a few more miles on a dirt road to the top of Mingus Mountain until I found my friends, huddled among the dripping pine trees around a glowing campfire. I set up my tent and broke out some adult juice boxes while the rest of our troupe showed up. We spent the night grilling, drinking, telling stories and just generally being the crazy grad students that we are.
We woke up the next morning
to a bright, sunny day. After a leisurely breakfast of whatever we had sitting around (everything from Clif Bars, fiery hot potato chips, strawberries, and hot chocolate), we put on hiking shoes and headed out to explore. We first headed up to several of the vistas that make Mingus the beautiful place that it is. At the very top of the mountain, we were joined by a few hardcore downhill mountain bikers (I was jealous) and half a dozen hang glider pilots that were putting together their wings. We played on the glider ramp's edge for awhile until we realized that the conditions weren't going to be right for them to fly for a few hours, so we continued our explorations. We headed across the mountain to the fire tower, which, unfortunately for us (but good for the forest, I guess), was manned by a ranger and we weren't allowed to go up there. So we (ok, I) climbed trees instead to get a better view. We romped around for a bit before deciding that we didn't want to miss the gliders launching, so we hurried back across the mountain. We were about 300 meters away when we saw a guy preparing t
o launch, so we sprinted up to the launch site. It turns out that they have to wait until conditions are completely perfect, so he didn't launch for another 10 minutes. When he did, though, it was really magical. He ran down the length of the ramp and was airborne in less than a second, gracefully lifting himself into the air. While we waited for a second guy to launch, another pilot offered to let Jeremy and me try out one of the gliders. Although it was only 80 pounds, it was fairly awkward, and you'd definitely need some training before just taking off into the sky. We watched two others fly into the blue shortly after and we admired their flights for a long time, watching them gracefully catch thermals and rise high above us.
to a bright, sunny day. After a leisurely breakfast of whatever we had sitting around (everything from Clif Bars, fiery hot potato chips, strawberries, and hot chocolate), we put on hiking shoes and headed out to explore. We first headed up to several of the vistas that make Mingus the beautiful place that it is. At the very top of the mountain, we were joined by a few hardcore downhill mountain bikers (I was jealous) and half a dozen hang glider pilots that were putting together their wings. We played on the glider ramp's edge for awhile until we realized that the conditions weren't going to be right for them to fly for a few hours, so we continued our explorations. We headed across the mountain to the fire tower, which, unfortunately for us (but good for the forest, I guess), was manned by a ranger and we weren't allowed to go up there. So we (ok, I) climbed trees instead to get a better view. We romped around for a bit before deciding that we didn't want to miss the gliders launching, so we hurried back across the mountain. We were about 300 meters away when we saw a guy preparing t
o launch, so we sprinted up to the launch site. It turns out that they have to wait until conditions are completely perfect, so he didn't launch for another 10 minutes. When he did, though, it was really magical. He ran down the length of the ramp and was airborne in less than a second, gracefully lifting himself into the air. While we waited for a second guy to launch, another pilot offered to let Jeremy and me try out one of the gliders. Although it was only 80 pounds, it was fairly awkward, and you'd definitely need some training before just taking off into the sky. We watched two others fly into the blue shortly after and we admired their flights for a long time, watching them gracefully catch thermals and rise high above us.We spent the rest of the day playing frisbee, soccer, and eating and hanging out back in camp. Since it is impossible for me to sit still for more than 30 minutes when there are adventures to be had, I headed out for what I thought would be a nice, easy mountain bike ride. I started out on the gravel road that soon ended in a mud pit that was posing as a dirt road. It was a blast, and before long, I had mud caked in all crevices of the bike and every inch of my body. I rode the road as far as it went to the edge of the mountain and some radio towers and then turned around to try and tackle one of the mountain bike trails that Missing Link had also gone down earlier that day. It was less muddy, but filled with annoying skull sized rocks that made the trail painful even with full suspension. I didn't even make it a mile down the trail before I decided that I had had enough. I spun back to the road and blasted through the mud again before arriving back at camp, covered from head to toe in muck to the surprise of my clean campmates. Fittingly, Guy and Brad from ML pulled up behind me in a truck just after I came in, so I gave the Dirt Monkey a big muddy hug while they told me about their great ride down the mountain. I was a little bit jealous, but I was having fun of my own.
We spent the evening cooking over the fire, drinking, and reliving our crazy undergraduate days with a game of caps that lasted well into the morning. I don't remember heading to the tent, but I do remember waking up too early. I packed up and said goodbye to the few souls that had crawled out of their own tents at the early hour, and was on the road headed east by 7:30.
For two hours, it was just me, Michael Tolcher, the desert and the Jeep. It was a great morning to roll down the windows and watch the world roll past. I got to Christopher Creek around 9:30 with Bill, Melissa
, Jason, Tyler, and his wife, Anshula arriving shortly afterwards. We started down the trail retelling adventures and just being the crazy gang of Team Escape. We hit the cold water of The Box and didn't look back, with the original team members jumping off cliffs, sliding down the slides, and just having a blast as we started to make our way down canyon. Shortly into the trip, we found a log floating in the stream and had an epic battle trying to stand on it while pushing our fellow team members off of it. Before we knew it, we came to the first of the bigger waterfalls and rather than the beastly scramble around it (as per ODP's trip last time), we opted to carefully downclimb the slick granite. Once Tyler helped all of us down, we b
oth looked to the high cliffs above and then looked to each other. Of course it was possible... After a quick depth check, we scrambled back up and Tyler beat me to the punch, topping out on the 40' or so high shelf above the water while I was still crossing back to the other side of the creek. He made a great jump and landed safely below. I followed suit and I'll admit that my legs were shaking when I got to the top and peered below. But, there wasn't any backing out, and I lept as well. It was an incredible jump, and had a wicked rush... even better than the cliff at Tonto Creek. So good, that we both decided to do it again, and for the second jump, we brought relative newbie jumpers Melissa and Bill up for the ride. Both did a splendid job, and all four of us were high-fiving at the conclusion of some awesome jumps. We continued downstream for more slides, jumps, climbs, and lunch at a nice rock formation, where I found a liberty head dime from 1943.
, Jason, Tyler, and his wife, Anshula arriving shortly afterwards. We started down the trail retelling adventures and just being the crazy gang of Team Escape. We hit the cold water of The Box and didn't look back, with the original team members jumping off cliffs, sliding down the slides, and just having a blast as we started to make our way down canyon. Shortly into the trip, we found a log floating in the stream and had an epic battle trying to stand on it while pushing our fellow team members off of it. Before we knew it, we came to the first of the bigger waterfalls and rather than the beastly scramble around it (as per ODP's trip last time), we opted to carefully downclimb the slick granite. Once Tyler helped all of us down, we b
oth looked to the high cliffs above and then looked to each other. Of course it was possible... After a quick depth check, we scrambled back up and Tyler beat me to the punch, topping out on the 40' or so high shelf above the water while I was still crossing back to the other side of the creek. He made a great jump and landed safely below. I followed suit and I'll admit that my legs were shaking when I got to the top and peered below. But, there wasn't any backing out, and I lept as well. It was an incredible jump, and had a wicked rush... even better than the cliff at Tonto Creek. So good, that we both decided to do it again, and for the second jump, we brought relative newbie jumpers Melissa and Bill up for the ride. Both did a splendid job, and all four of us were high-fiving at the conclusion of some awesome jumps. We continued downstream for more slides, jumps, climbs, and lunch at a nice rock formation, where I found a liberty head dime from 1943. After lunch, we c
ontinued on to the first rap of the day, where Jason and Bill put in new slings (the old one was secured by a very worn piton) and Bill, Anshula, Jason and I rapped down the 50' of the falls. Although a bit jealous that I had already rapped down, I depth checked for Tyler and found no bottom to the pool. He had a great jump from the top before Melissa joined us as well and we packed the rope for the next rap. The second rappel was from a log directly over a 25' waterfall. Although I could have jumped it, the rappel looked even more fun than jumping, and it certainly did not disappoint. There was a great little cave behind the falls that we hung out in for a bit before continuing on.
ontinued on to the first rap of the day, where Jason and Bill put in new slings (the old one was secured by a very worn piton) and Bill, Anshula, Jason and I rapped down the 50' of the falls. Although a bit jealous that I had already rapped down, I depth checked for Tyler and found no bottom to the pool. He had a great jump from the top before Melissa joined us as well and we packed the rope for the next rap. The second rappel was from a log directly over a 25' waterfall. Although I could have jumped it, the rappel looked even more fun than jumping, and it certainly did not disappoint. There was a great little cave behind the falls that we hung out in for a bit before continuing on. The rest of the trip was filled with more jumping, sliding, and the hilarious antics of Team Escape and before we knew it, we came to the side spring that marked the end of the canyon. The hike back out to the top wasn't bad and we got to the cars in great time. We ended the incredible weekend with some Mexican food in Payson and called it a day. It was an incredible weekend, but ended far too soon, and by 9 p.m., I was already back in the 100 degree humid monsoon heat, looking forward to the next adventure.
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