The end of February was coming closer, we were attending a wedding in Minnesota at the end of the month. We decided to drive back instead of flying, flights were expensive and so was leaving the van in a parking lot somewhere (not to mention a little scary to think about leaving our home unattended for a length of time). Time to make our way east.
Sedona Arizona was our destination. We had a few days before we were meeting Eric in Phoenix to hike a section of the Arizona Trail. Wouldn’t you know it, we ran into our friends Frankie and Darla in Sedona, we were so surprised and excited to see them on the road; we hadn’t seem them since October in Tensleep, and definitely weren’t expecting to see them again so soon! We went on a few hikes, Kyle and I entertained them by climbing up a pitch on the Sedona Sandstone.
Sedona was such a beautiful spot with gorgeous weather I didn’t want to leave! Other friends were waiting to meet up with us, so we kept moving on. First we made a quick stop in Phoenix to have dinner with my old boss. It was great having time catching up with him and seeing his dream house he and his wife built. Then we hustled on to meet up with Eric and start our Arizona Trail backpacking extravaganza.
Arizona Trail (AZT)
Eric met us at one of his favorite taco places where we chowed down. Then we headed to base camp – Eric’s mom’s place in a retirement community. We enjoyed the hot tub that evening and packed our packs to be ready for the hike over the next few days.
In the morning we were lucky to be served an amazing breakfast, sausage, eggs, pancakes etc. Eric’s mom wanted to be sure we were fueled for the hike. Then we drove to the end point of our hike and dropped the van off, jumped into the SUV with Eric and his mom and drove to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. What an amazing place with SO many different types of cacti, tree, plant you could spend a week there and not see everything. After scratching the surface at the Arboretum, we were dropped off at the trailhead. Hilariously we started hiking in the wrong direction, only a few minutes passed before we realized our error.
Oriented in the correct direction, we took off into the Superstition Mountains. During our 50 mile trek we searched and searched for THE Hollywood Saguaro cactus, we passed thousands and thousands of Saguaros and none were the exact match. There were many potentials but as we got closer, it would have an extra branch!
Five days we hiked all day, stopping to make a meal and filter water (when we finally found a decent water source). There are no designated campsites along the AZT, you simply stop where you want, set up your tent, eat a meal and get some well earned sleep. Get up the next day and repeat.
On our last day with less than 5 miles to go, we finally found what we had been searching for, THE SAGUARO.
Colorado and Ice Climbing
After spending a week in the sun baking in the desert, we decided to head north and find some snow and ice. Off to Colorado we went, Ouray specifically. The ice climbing festival in Ouray just ended so it was the perfect time for us to show up. We rambled into town and drove straight to the ‘crag’. Kyle dove right into ice climbing like a fish in water. Me, it took me a while to get used to the cold and the climbing again. It had been about a year since we had ice climbed, or at least an entire season!
We found a forest service road on BLM land to camp for the night, excitingly along the way up to a campsite we stopped to put our tire chains on. This was the first time we broke out the chains! We were in some pretty deep snow and of course the FS road was not plowed, no-maintenance road.
We spent only a few days in Ouray, as we were slowly making our way back east. Now I wanted to climb somewhere WARM. Shelf Road was conveniently on our way east. There is a wonderful campground up there where we grabbed a site for a handful of nights. The trail to the crag was covered in snow and rather chilly in the shadows. Luckily we cross a gully and emerge on the other side of the canyon and into the sunlight where the rock climbing is. Stark contrast from being bundled up in the shade, to shedding layers in the sun.
Minnesota
After a quick visit with friends in Golden, we made our way back to Minnesota. Our first night back, we were greeted by temps of -18F. We were out on a lake ice fishing with friends (yes we brought the van out on the lake, and yes I was nervous). The propane ran out during the middle of the night, which meant no more heat. Kyle and I would have stayed warm enough but we were worried about our plumbing. So unfortunately we had to leave our friends on the frozen lake and head towards my parents. We refilled our propane along the way and once parked added an electric heater to the back of the van to help out. We insulated the van well, but not well enough for these frigid temperatures.
Kyle and I had the best time at McKenzie and Drew’s wedding! It was so fun seeing old coworkers, and meeting McKenzie’s dad for the first time. Such a wonderful event with truly wonderful people. We had such a good time Kyle and I only have one photo from the night. Sadly not even a photo with the newlywed couple!
