at last a monsoon mud hike
Posted by Zonie on August 01, 2022 at 05:53:53
The southeast monsoon was actually early this year, but for a while it was a disappointment with only a few light showers in our area and long periods of returning dry weather. I had concluded yesterday's outdoor work with the rather unsatisfying task of having vacuumed the pool only to have a dust storm blow in right as I finished. I did have a glimmer of hope, as the radar map showed that a lot of rain had fallen on the west side of the Reach 11 recreation area.
I was committed to Sunday morning hiking on the Squaw Peak trails. That was about half an hour. It's been a long time since we've done the full summit together. We generally go up the alternate summit trail to the junction, down the main trail, and partly around the base of the mountain. Dr. Ceranski is 85 years old now, and most people his age can't even do that.
I eventually changed into my mudding gear and got to Reach 11 at around 11 AM, a later start than one likes this time of year. Deer Valley Airport had received 1.34" of rain, so I knew there would be mud holes, and today it was mostly cloudy in the morning and mostly sunny in the afternoon with a temperature range of 77°F to 99°F and by our standards rather humid.
When I arrived the gate of the road to the equestrian center was open, but I could see no activity there. Some more vegetation, including palo verde and mesquite samplings, had grown in the area that had been torn up in 2019 for an expansion of the equestrian center that never occurred. I could still find some good stomping mud and puddles in the disrupted terrain, and my blue denim overalls were good at dealing with the thorns.
I was wearing my brown cotton snap button mudding shirt and camouflage ball cap. Having wrecked my old work boots with the Christmas mudding there, I used the cheap synthetic work boots I bought just for mud stomping. I cautioned myself that it was not winter and that there might be rattlesnakes and that I could fall victim to heat-related illness even if soaked. Fortunately I encountered no rattlesnakes.
When the cloud cover broke up, the strong sunshine convinced me I needed a full wallow as soon as possible. I found a deep mud puddle I had enjoyed before, churned it up and sat down in it, smearing and splashing mud all over me. Despite being in the sun it was cool and refreshing for a while. Then the sun started heating up the mud considerably, and I figured I needed to get to the shade of the mesquite thicket.
I walked through lots of mud, but the sun made it hard to enjoy it. At last I got to the shade and a puddle in an arroyo in the mesquite thicket. The trouble was that the bottom of the puddle was sand. I thought I must look for someplace else, but then I noticed that the bank was nice thick mud, so I went into that, mixing the mud of the bank into the water of the puddle, making a nice creamy mud that was cool and refreshing and in the shade remained so for hours. I spent quite some time churning up the mud, wallowing and luxuriating. What better place to be on a steamy summer afternoon. This was better than being indoors in the air conditioning by far. It was a fine time to be idle. The lines of Noel Coward's song came to my mind:
In the mangrove swamp where the pythons romp, there is peace form twelve to two
Even cariboos lie around and snooze, there's nothing else to do
Still, I had other things I wanted to do before dark, so I emerged from the thicket. When I urinated I was gratified to see that it was pale and that I wasn't dehydrated. The cool mud had indeed protected me. I headed back.
I had enjoyed quite a lot of solitude, but at length I heard wheels behind me on the trail. I assumed a party of mountain bicyclists was approaching and stepped aside. Four young men passed me, but they weren't bicyclists. They were riding vehicles the likes of which I had not seen before. They looked like skateboards but, rather than have four wheels, they had a rectangular perforation in the middle in which was a single large wheel. I asked one of the young men if it was some sort of off-road skateboard. He said it was to simulate snowboarding so that it could be done at all times of year. Imagine getting heat stroke while snowboarding!
As I prepared to drive home, I saw a towering cumulus cloud to the southwest. I didn't think much of it, as there was a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast. The drive home was about 20 minutes, and when I got home, that cloud was no longer there. In its place was a brown haze. Soon the wind rose and it was clear I was in a dust storm. It was quite a peculiar dust storm, as it no longer had a parent cloud. I'm guessing that all the rain that fell from that cloud evaporated on the way down and that enough air was entrained from the area around it, evaporating the cloud itself. All that remained was the downburst and resulting dust storm. The evaporative cooling had made the breeze feel pleasantly cool.
After putting away some personal effects, I decided that since I was dirty anyway, there was no harm mowing the lawn in a dust storm, so I went in the back yard and re-soaked myself with the garden hose, getting rid of most of the mud but by no means all.
I mowed the lawn and soon had dust and grass clippings sticking to my wet overalls. Soon the dust storm abated, but the sun was lower in the sky and didn't feel quite so oppressive. I remained cool enough as I finished that task.
I hosed myself down again and began to undress in the back yard. The socks had been borderline before, and were trashed now, so I didn't bother laundering them. The boots held up fine, as did the overalls. The often-used tan cotton snap-button shirt had developed a tear, and I decided finaly to throw it away after many enjoyable muddings. Then I had time for a dip in the pool and after that off to the shower and the laundry.
- Re: at last a monsoon mud hike Wetnboy 16:32:23 8/06/2022
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- Re: at last a monsoon mud hike Zonie 02:08:41 8/07/2022
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- Re: at last a monsoon mud hike Zonie 02:08:41 8/07/2022
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