Well, I couldn't go out the way I was dressed, I would have to put on.........pants. Since we arrived in Arizona in May, I have worn nothing but shorts and tank tops. Sometimes I would wear a skirt and a tank top, or even a cute summer dress. Last night I put on pants and, and a t-shirt. Whoa, what's going on here?
So as it was freezing last night, I thought it would most likely be an awesome morning today for a hike. We agreed to a hike but not to waking up early so we could beat the heat. Alas, we rose at 9 am to find very pleasant temps outside. Its now 10 am and we decide that yes we will go hiking. We will ride our bikes to the trail nearby and hike up. It was hovering around 90 degrees, there was a breeze, and the sun kept hiding behind some clouds...perfect.
As Brian was getting our bikes ready, our neighbor to the right came by to introduce himself. Louie is his name. Very nice guy. Quite the talker. So Brians outside talking and talking and talking. Time is ticking by and its getting hotter. Finally I go outside to meet the neighbor, and hopefully get Brian back to the task at hand, which is hiking.
Its now 12:30 and we are finally ready to go. We have our water and some snacks. We are lathered with sunscreen, we are ready to go. We ride the half mile to the trail head, it is an easy bike ride. I notice that there are no more clouds around, and it figures because that always happens to us.
We start up the trail, its suppose to be 1.4 miles to the next trail, and then from there we are going to try to find a tunnel and Fat Mans Pass. Its supposed to be cool. Off we go, but only a little into the hike Brian seems alarmed. "What" I say. "I think I saw a rattlesnake", Brian replies. Oh god we are both thinking. So he is standing there and I now have to walk past the rocks that the snake has crawled in to. I hauled it past the rocks and asked Brian what exactly he saw. He said he heard a rattle sound and saw the tail. He said the tail was transparent. That is a very good description of a rattlesnake. It was on our minds as we continued up the trail, but was soon forgotten. The sun now beat down on us with brutality as we climbed up South Mountain on the Mormon trail. Someone very clever has scratched out the "m" on every trail sign so that it now is called the Moron Trail. We hiked and hiked but this other trail just didn't seem to be anywhere nearby. Did we go too far? Did we miss the trail head? It was now 2 pm and the hottest, meanest part of the day. We should go back down and go swimming, we both thought. So we turned around and headed back down the mountain. We saw lots of lizards, small ones and a big chuckwalla. We saw cactus wrens and gambrels quail. It was a pleasant hike, not too much traffic and great views of the valley.
The neighborhood in the front is our hood
View of the city
We got to the bottom, hopped on the bikes and sped home. Within 5 minutes of walking in the house we were in the pool and happy. The pool temps have been around 89-92 degrees. We were surprised it was so high because it feels so refreshing when you get in. I thought more like 82 degrees.
We are going to do some projects now around the house. The hike wore us out.
-Nina-
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