Mt. Ord

For those of you that don't know...I LOVE TO HIKE! I don't get to do it as much as I'd like, but I do love it. I hope to find someone to share my life with that enjoys the same. If not, I hope he is willing to learn to enjoy it enough to do it with me.

Grand Canyon is less than a week away. I'm not as prepared as I should be and definitely not as prepared as I'd like to be. It was moved up a week and so that limited what I could do to prepare. Work has been so crazy lately that I just can't get off in time to hit the mountain after work. We are doing South Rim to river to South Rim this year due to the North Rim not being open yet. It will limit our hike to 17-20 miles depending on what trail we take in and out. I haven't gotten the word yet on that.

I had decided to do Mt. Ord 2 Saturdays in a row to help me get ready. Unfortunately Friday night, a week ago, as I was getting ready to head out the next morning I discovered that the weather wasn't so good. It was suppose to be 50 and pouring rain all day. It had already been pouring rain on Friday. A girl from work, Suzanne, was going to go with me. She was such a trooper. She let me decide not to go. Risking getting a bad cold due to being out in the cold and wet air was not worth it. I appreciated her not pushing me and being totally supportive.

Then came this week. Yet another crazy week and I couldn't find anyone to go with me. Hiking alone in the city is one thing. Hiking alone most of the day alone in the middle of no where is another. I'd done it once before, last time I hiked GC, but was positive I'd never do it again. The only good thing is that I have cell signal almost the whole hike and on the few moments I don't, it is only for a minute or two. I tried many things and nothing worked out. Friday I had to make a decision, hike it alone or not do Grand Canyon. This was what I needed for myself to know just how unprepared I was.

Mt. Ord is about 20 miles south of Payson and it is a lookout mountain. For those that don't know what that is, during fire season someone lives up in a tower on the top of a lookout mountain to keep an eye out for fire. It is a great training hike as it is long and is steady and is in elevation. You can hike part way up the old road, but the people I've always gone with hike up the normal road.

Unfortunately they hadn't grated the road yet for the year and there were some "interesting" spots that I'm sure my low riding car was NOT meant to go. I got out a couple times and assured myself I could go up, but wasn't convinced I could get back down. More about that fun story later...

Surprisingly I felt like I was moving so slow, but made it up in only 10 minutes less than when I was prepared a couple years ago. It is 7 up and 7 down. I drove my car up 3 miles and parked. I hiked down 2 miles (first mile doesn't have much elevation change) and then back up all the way to the top (6 up, 4 back to the car and 12 in total). This way I was never more than 4 miles from my car. Not that I can run that far normally, but if I needed to I was sure that I could do it and would feel better about not being alone in the middle of the mountains and 6 miles from my car. I was able to complete my hike in an hour less than I'd allocated myself. Thank you Laura for being a trooper and let me text you off and on the whole way and let you know where I was and what license plate numbers I talked with.

When one cannot single out what pictures to post, one posts too many. I promise I did cut it back from those I took, but it was pretty fun taking pictures of this day.

I'm a pro at taking pictures through the windshield as I drive. In the middle of the page...that is my destination for the day. They look small, but you can see the lookout tower from a distance. The pictures look somewhat different when smaller than they do when they are normal size. I hope you can appreciate them as much as I do.Getting closer, you can actually tell there is a tower on the top (and some satellites). I couldn't believe how green it was driving up the B Line (or is it Beeline).In Montana you see mountains or hills covered in evergreens. In Arizona you see them covered in cactus. (unfortunately you can tell these were taken through a window towards the sun) Getting closer. It was hazy during the early morning.

A mile from the turn off and the base of the mountain. (definite glare on the window)From the lowest point of hiking...can you see the towers off to the right on the top? That is my goal. 59 degrees out...slight breeze...perfect hiking weather!About a mile up from where I turned started hiking at the base on my way back up. Notice the bridge on the road to compare in a picture later.I'm not sure what lake this is, but this is a view of the lake (zoomed in) from part way up the mountain.Without the zoom...beautiful.For awhile there isn't much to look at but trees...and then...here is the tower! It is still a mile away, but a welcomed sight.For as hazy as it was in the early morning, within a couple hours it was gorgeous out. This is why I love to hike. Nature in the raw form. Love it! It may be hard to see in such a small picture, but this is the one to compare to the earlier picture with the bridge. The tallest mountain in the center of the picture, go straight down and off to the right just above where you can see the road I'm on...that is the bridge that appeared in an earlier picture. I had always gotten turned around when hiking here before, so this was the first time I'd noticed it. I felt like I'd accomplished something and I was proud. My little cheerleader via text Laura was happy I'd made it (and that the 2 hot men running up the mountain weren't only very attractive, but nice and meant me no harm either...trust me...so was I)

Looking towards Phoenix from the top.The lake again from the top.

I do love trees and this was a beautiful view back towards my starting point for the day.What a wonderful looking tower! JK. I was happy to be at the top though. Unfortunately I forgot which side of my feet rub in my hiking shoes and was in some pain by this point. Don't worry 4 blisters is an awesome number for me. I'll take 4 any day over the norm. The sky looked like that where it wasn't hazy, it reminding me of Montana. Just a scenic view. I love it! This is why I hike.

One more on my way down.Now for the final part of my story about the road. These pictures really do not do it justice and in my panic, after the 3rd try of not being able to get past a certain point, I forgot to take a picture of where I was in serious trouble. The front of my car was actually pushing the dirt. You could see it and hear it...not pretty. So I'd back up and try a different angle. After 3 tries I was a little freaked. The road is a bit narrow for me to back up half a mile to where I could turn around. I built up the rocks and tried a 4th time. Who says 3rd time is a charm?! Gratefully the 4th time was a charm...at least on this spot of the road. This pictures make it look like it was nothing, trust me, it was. I know, I know, I'm sure all the people up there in their trucks were wondering what kind of stupid woman drove up a black sporty Mazda!

This is the 2nd of the worst parts that were worth getting out and taking a picture of. This is actually at the bottom of the mountain only a mile in. I wasn't sure I could do it, but I got through going up. Unfortunately going down is a different angle and my low front wasn't happy with me. This time I built up the rocks first and made sure my tires were angled just right to get through without ruining my front end. Thank you Heavenly Father for answering my prayers! and for giving me a good head on my shoulders that didn't let me panic, but allowed me to think through how to make it work. I'm finally at the bottom in this picture and on the paved road just before getting back on the highway. I got out to inspect my car and discover how stupid I really was for attempting to go up the road in a car before they'd repaired the parts the run-off had washed away. I'm not sure if you can see it, but if you look at the left hand side on the under part of my car you can see where I pushed the dirt. It just doesn't do it justice, however I'm glad to say no damage can be seen where people will notice:)
Now that is one dirty black car. Next time if the road is that bad I'll park at the bottom and not attempt going up. I learned a number of lessons in the past week. Don't wait 3 years to do your taxes and don't pretend your Mazda can do what a truck can do:)I hope you enjoyed my Mt. Ord experience. Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for pictures of my Grand Canyon hike...6 more days.

After getting done with my hike I drove back to the city and got a bite to eat at Paradise Bakery and then headed over to meet up with the Bosen's to watch Kaleigh play in the Arizona Cup Tournament. She did awesome again, scoring the 1st of the 2 goals scored in the game. Thank you Alison for sharing your shade. It was quite a bit warmer in Phoenix than it was up on the mountain.