When the VP of outdoor activities announced in a team meeting that we would be hiking for the highest peak in Arizona state, I was excited as a event coordinator and as a participant. As soon as I came to my room and googled about the peak and I decided I should make it at any cost.
After the our first module exams and assignments, I had a day off before I can start for the hike. I spent the day off completing relaxing : spending ample time in bath tub bathing, listening to some of my favorite songs and reading books. On the D-day, I rushed to the parking lot at 5:00 AM in the morning, I woke up at 4:10 AM and had slept just 5 hours the last night. We split as per the cars availability and I ended with a mexican born American gal. One of my friend who was supposed to join us, got locked out in the room and had to take the next car. The drive to the hiking spot from my college was two and half hours. I thought of sleeping in the car but as things turned out I not only need to be awake but also need to talk to her for two and half hours. The concern I had with americans is that they do not like silence in between conversations, which for me comes naturally. I take break during the conversations and this happens unconsciously to me and they wont like that. They need continuous conversation. Hmm!!! "How do I make up this?" I thought as the car was cruising to the hiking point.
After initial social niceties, we talked about different hiking places we have done in the past, relationships/ marriages in our respective countries, computers, about her disney sister and about my injured roommate etc., I fell into a little silence every now and then.(I try to avoid the silence but could not.) Nature and nature calls :) aided me in between to decrease the silence time. Finding the route for the hiking spot filled the rest of the space and we reached the hiking spot on time. We both felt it wasn't two and half hours of ride. Its like "naam batate batate hiking spot ayaa."
It was freezing at the hiking point around 10 C but the view was amazing. All the grass turned into yellow color upon receiving the sun's rays. I never seen such view in my real entire life. I miss my camera. One of our professor along with his son also joined us in the tour. We are total 18 in number. We have seen the peak and we guessed it would be going to be a daunting task. We started hiking with excitement, skepticism and hope. The total distance to the top would be around 4.8 miles (7.7 Kms). We started as a group as the distance decreased and steepness increased, people started splitting into mini groups and individuals based on their endurance levels. My lack of sleep along with altitudinal headache caused dizziness in me. Sometimes I closed my eyes and kept walking. At 11600 ft, as steepness increased ,I realized I wont be able to make it to the top.My ego did not allowed that thought to get entertained. I just walked walked walked, just looking at the ground. After one hour of non-stop walking I made it to the top and collapsed there as soon as I reached the peak.
After regaining my consciousness, I ate some food and with the gained energy I looked the view, it was nothing less than splendid view of Arizona desert area. At a far distance, there lies Grand Canyon. It remembered of the rim to rim hiking. That's for another day. We spent around one and half hours on the top, taking pictures, group pictures, signing the "made it to the top memorandum" and appreciating the view. After relaxing quite a bit we started climbing down. Almost everyone thought getting down would be easier and take less time than it had taken to reach the top. But coming down proved even more tougher than going up. We walked walked walked walked walked and then walked and walked and still we are not able to reach the car parking. It's tough and brutal. Almost everyone lost patience and hope, they just walked and walked in silence, cursing every now and then and saying F-word.
While coming down, I again teamed up with the mexican gal. We almost walked together in the entire downward journey. We lost in the forest for some time as we tried to take a short cut. After correcting our trial and we started sharing stories to ease the pain in the journey. I was very much surprised with her story(not revealing it due to privacy issues). Her commitment to the relationship is phenomenal. I never seen such a gal till now in my culture. This is one of my best walks after Sholang valley walk,I had last year. I guess walks become memorable with the beautiful people involved in it.
Finally after completely exhausted, we reached the parking lot,just to see amazing sun set. Wonderful!!! But I had a challenge to face. I have to chat for another 2 and half hours on our ride back to the college. I was totally tired with pain in my calf muscles and toes. But I know much about her than in the morning, so keeping her engaged was not a problem.So we talked about schools, the professors, different music, musical instruments and arts and my lack of necessary knowledge about them, careers etc., Meanwhile I slipped into a nap of about 2 min and then a funny thing (situational comedy)happened to the one of the team member in another car and thus humor entered our car. Humor makes the longer distance short. Thus Survived.Yay!! Finally she said "Thanks for riding with me." :)
PS: Interestingly the best two walks to remember I had, involved two best gals I have ever met.
PPS: I have seen dogs coming for such a laborious hike. Amazing.
PPPS: One guy hiked with his 2 yrs born baby by tying the baby along with trolley to his back. Astonishing.
PPPPS: Some glances of the hiking trail:
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| On the way to the hiking spot |
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| At the starting point of the peak |
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From one of the rested places
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From 11800 ft altitude
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| At the highest peak |
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| Paranoiac view at 11800 ft |
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From the highest peak Arial view
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