Running Away
That’s what I’d call it when a blizzard is incoming and you flee the scene ahead of time. I got to the airport in Boston at 3:15am and thinking I’d get through the TSA Precheck line fast I headed to the security checkpoint. It turns out that TSA Precheck doesn’t open until 4am! No worries, I still made it to my gate about 35minutes early. Now for the next 7 hours of flying haha.
Wow this airplane is empty! I haven’t had a free seat next to me in YEARS. I forget the last time I saw so many empty seats. I should go to Chicago O’Hare more often. The only worry I have for today is seeing a mountain lion while hiking in Coronado. I think going in January means I’ll be the only one there and that will make it more stressful. Luckily I will have bb8 with me!
I watched fantastic beasts in an hour, which means I skipped about half of the movie. I’m giving it an 8/10. In flight WiFi didn’t work until about 5:50am. I’m either halfway there or ten minutes out. I can’t tell because my phone hasn’t updated the time and I don’t really have internet to check. The way American Airlines does internet is great. The WiFi costs $16 for an hour (waste of money)and you get entertainment OR you pay nothing and still get the entertainment anyways.
Snowstorm in Chicago. There’s about 3inches on the ground and the weather apps say it won’t stop until 12pm. So far my flight is on time and boarding in 57 minutes, but I’m still taxiing to the gate. The American Airlines app says it’s an 8 min walk from h18 to k20. I hope my flight can leave on time! The crews here have seen it all before. There are CAT snowplows and bobcats. Everyone is like a machine! I have no doubt my flight will leave on time. Also this airport is huuuge.
Once I actually got onto the plane I had the treat of waiting an extra hour until they finished de icing it. After I got to Tucson I got my rental car and headed to the only stop if the day: Coronado National Memorial. Usually National Memorials are kind of boring in the “I want to go on an adventure!” sort of way. This one however was awesome. I got my stamp and patch then wanted to get the special pin. You can only get the pin by hiking 3 or more miles in one day and proving it to a ranger with pictures. After talking to the ranger I set off.
I first drove up the steep unpaved road to the parking lot at the top. If you continued on the road you would end up in Nogales. You know you are near Mexico when there’s only about 5 radio stations and the only one in English is country. I listened to Spanish instead. I hate country. In fact, I was so close to Mexico that I got a text message from Verizon telling me that I was using Mexico cell data. So I switched my phone to airplane mode for the whole hike. I took the Joes Canyon Trail first. That brought me along the ridge to the intersection with the Yaqui Ridge Trail (about 1 mile). I didn’t do that because it went down to the border and had a 1k ft elevation gain in the mile that came back up.
On the way across the ridge I was constantly thinking about mountain lions and what to do it I spotted one. Also the wind was very strong the whole way. I was the only hiker to go out on the ridge. Once I got back to the parking lot I set back out to do Coronado Peak. It was much much windier on this portion and I was out of breath fast because it was steep. You can see for miles and miles. The border wall was also cool to see in person. It seemed to stretch forever. I took some pictures of bb8 only at the top of Coronado Peak because it seemed too risky with the wind to do it on the ridge. It would also be a prime spot for a mountain lion to attack.
Once I finished hiking I headed back down, talked to the ranger some more and headed off towards my hotel. I decided to do the more scenic route that the ranger suggested. It brought me east along the border to Bisbee, AZ. From there I took a bunch of roads that were sort of off the beaten path. Basically instead of just going to I-10 then Willcox, I instead took the scenic route around the mountains.
Once at the hotel I decided to get dinner. I was going to try a local eatery, but nothing looked that great so I went to McDonald’s. It wasn’t great either, but I needed change to tip the hotel staff anyways. Now I’m off to bed. See you tomorrow!
Arizona Part 2
Today I left the hotel 7 minutes late at 7:37am. The Saturday plan was pretty strict and that would turn out to be my undoing. I started out the drive to Chiricahua National Monument in southeast Arizona. It is super close to the border much like Coronado. To get the pin you have to hike 5 miles. The closer I got the more remote it got and I proceeded to go off the grid. Not to worry because google maps saves your trip data so I still had a GPS. After about 45 minutes of driving I arrived at the monument. I bought some prickly pear syrup for Brenda and Paul thinking they would’ve never seen such a delicacy. The park ranger suggested I travel all the way to the end of Bonita road and work my way back, but bad news: a tree had been discovered on the road and they were working to remove it.
I had been in the line of cars in front of the gate for 7 minutes with my 9:30am deadline fast approaching. You see, most trips require me to be at a certain place at a certain time. No exceptions! I ended up getting out of line and heading to Fort Bowie National Historic Park.
I headed back down the road to the Apache Pass Road. It is an unpaved road the winds you through the mountains. It wasn’t bad and I was able to go 35-40mph down it. I stopped about 5 minutes in to take pictures. How can you not stop and just enjoy the view?
After about 8 miles I made it to the trail head. You see to go to the visitors center at Ft. Bowie you have to hike 1.5 miles through the unforgiving Arizona desert. Luckily it was 55F with a cool breeze so it wasn’t that bad. In my plan I had myself doing all 3 miles in 30 minutes, but once I was there it became apparent that would be impossible.
So I started juggling (in my head) editing the official roadtrip plan. The trail there was easy, but at 5300ft in elevation and somewhat out of shape I was huffing and puffing none the less. I was constantly on the lookout once more (like at Coronado) for mountain lions. On the trail you pass some of the ruins of the fort. The cemetery, stables, and some Apache ruins. Neat to see that they are still there. About halfway there I met a woman who was jogging towards me on a different trail. She explained that it was the return trail and would be a brutal ascent, so I continued on the current path Eventually I made it to the visitors center and got my stamp and patch. I also got a new water bottle. Don’t forget to ask for the unique pin! They don’t just give them out anymore.
When I took out bb8 I had to explain that it comes with me just about everywhere. I’ve found that explaining before people ask, is easier and less awkward than after. It turns out I had 2 bars of LTE! That was surprising and when I asked the ranger said they installed an antenna to make streaming movies and not being off the grid possible. I took a few minutes to chick google maps and text a few people some trip updates. When I finished looking around, I filled up my new water bottle and headed up the return trail. It was steep, but not that bad! Totally worth it. The rangers said that there may or may not be a Jaguar in these mountains. There have been 2 spotted in this part of Arizona. It is thought that they crossed back into Mexico, but no one is sure. I kept my eye out on the return trail, but saw nothing. I took this video to explain the landscape.
The rest of the trail went rather fast as it was mostly a downhill ridge and switchbacks. After that I took the first trail back to my car for the next leg of the journey. On my way towards the highway I think I caught a glimpse of a mountain lion crossing the road. It had the body, long tail, and looked very much like a cat. I didn’t have time to whip out my cell phone for a picture, but I’m sticking to my story.
Breaking The Rules
It is pretty well known to my personal circle that you follow my trip itinerary to the letter or suffer my wrath. Somewhere during the Fort Bowie hike I decided to skip Gila National Monument as I’d be getting there about 5 minutes before they close and I didn’t think I would be able the do the 3 mile hike in 5 minutes. I started off towards Albuquerque not really knowing what was next. I called Brenda for advice and she suggested taking the boring I-26 (not the same as the well known I-25) over to Hatch. Think of it as a shortcut as you’d be going through the desert rather than over to Las Cruces and straight up. That lined up with my GPS so off I went. There are a lot of tuckers on the Arizona I-10 highway. It was fun at 85mph the whole way!
After hearing so much about Lordsburg, New Mexico I expected great things, but was saddened to find another small boring highway town. After passing through I saw about 20 billboards for a store down the road at exit 42 (don’t quote me on the exit). I just had to check it out. Who can pass that many billboards and not be curious? It was in a wicked small town called Separ. Literally the only thing there was a dilapidated diesel pump and the store. Pretty cool stop! I got a new T-shirt and a small item for one of my penpals. It took another 87 miles (1.5 hours) to reach Hatch from Separ. Mountains in the distance, not many cars…this is the life!
I stopped briefly in Hatch to see if Brenda wanted any chilis. Hatch is the home of the hatch green chili peppers. She said no so I continued on my way. Not even 5 minutes later I get a call from Paul who insists I turn around immediately and go back into Hatch. Since I was technically still there (not on the highway yet) that was an easy request. I was to go eat the most legendary green chili cheeseburger in existence at Sparky’s in Hatch. Now, normally I’m not a huge fan of green chili or hot sauce in general for that matter, but Paul insisted and this was the ultimate trip of “I don’t want to, but I will anyways” so I ordered a green chili cheeseburger, french fries, and a “chocolate malt” (otherwise known as a milkshake to us common folk). It was really good and is making me hungry now thinking about it.
After lunch I put my game face on and drove nonstop to Albuquerque. It was about a 4 hour drive and because I had spent sooooo long in Hatch, I missed out on revisiting Fort Craig. I went there once, but was too late to get the stamp. It’s now an infamous destination in my family’s lore. Once in Albuquerque I filled the rental with gas and dropped it off at Hertz. Then I met up with Brenda and Paul and we went to dinner at Kosmos, the cosmic restaurant. It has good burgers.
On Sunday I’ll spend the day with family in Albuquerque and tomorrow I will catch a flight to head home back to Boston. Overall the trip was amazing and I couldn’t wish for more. Wooooooo! I finally wrote a blog on time. I hope you enjoyed it!
Trip Stats
Estimated Miles: 690mi
Actual Miles: 619mi
Mountain Lions Seen: 1
Jaguars Seen: 0
Nice Strangers: Many
Pins Collected: 2