Just Blathering On

9/12/09: The second day brought another hike. This would be a two-day trip up to the South Rim. The trip to the trailhead brought the ominous warning of bears and mountain lions as shown in the picture to left. I did have an incident I believe involved a mountain lion. I'll tell that story in a moment. I had no encounters with bears.
I had a strenuous hike up Pinnacle Trail. There were beautiful canyon views as the trail wound through Boot Canyon. Deep in the canyon, winding along a slow moving stream, rain began to fall. There were mossy overhangs to my back, and I donned my parka and leaned back against the moss wall. I stayed about half an hour in the rain there. I wasn't very comfortable and was getting a bit wet. I felt rather tired and didn't have a lot of snack food to munch on. I had about enough water to get up to the rim, but still, I was uncomfortable and tired there in the rain. On the upside, the rain brought a coolness that was welcome. It's not often there's rain in the desert, but there's just enough to keep this stream and fertile green area growing. The rain eventually let up some and I felt more comfortable moving on. There was a side trip that I'd planned on taking to summit Emory Peak. It's a two mile hike out and back from the canyon trail up Emory Peak and back down. At the fork, bear boxes were supplied with instructions to leave you pack inside if you were going to scale Emory and come back down. I left my pack in the bear box wondering if there were really any critters that big in the area. The trail started off easily, then climbed steadily. The elevation gain from the trail is near 2,000 feet. Along the way up one of the bushes just off the trail erupted in a very loud rattling a few feet away. Was it a mariachi band? Or was it a set of morracas gone mad? It was an alarming and violent rattling. Thinking for a bit, I realized this was my first encounter with a big rattlesnake whom I'd startled. He never came out of the bush, and I didn't encourage him to. After I had made my way back down to the Boot Canyon trail, this small black squirrel got my attention. (See picture.) I've heard that black squirrels are popular in the West. But it was certainly a novelty to me. I don't recall ever seeing one growing up in Connecticut, or in the last 35 years living in Florida.
I knew I was getting closer to the edge of the canyon. I felt a sense of anticipation as I approached the South Rim. I could see a directional sign ahead, and I knew the view I'd traveled 1600 miles to see was just ahead. But I was able to just stay in the moment and wait as I got closer. It really was a breathtaking view. It was one of those moments when the only words are, "Holy S___", or something like that. The earth just fell away into an open valley of smaller hills, with a perception of the Rio Grande river between. Then off far into Mexico. I came back up to the rim after I set up camp. The sunset was spectacular.
The next morning I was making breakfast. Several deer approached and stood closeby. Then suddenly, as though there were a silent gunshot, they scattered. I'd never seen deer move so fast. I was very wary as I finished my cooking and eating. I never saw the mountain lion, and am grateful he was more interested in the deer than in my oatmeal, or me!