Double H trip part 2

Double H part 2

2005-11-11T10:08:00.000-08:00

This is the second part of our trip to HH in New Mexico. Pictures contributed by Neil, Steve and Rick. Start at the bottom and scroll up.

Tips

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· Hiking poles – a must for adults. We all had them and they helped a lot. Not necessary for the scouts. Those that took them never learned to use them and they ended up on their packs most of the time.

· Hat - make sure you have a good hat to keep the sun off. The sun can be intense.

· Be in shape to hike – Bushwhacking is much tougher than trail hiking. HH is all about backpacking. There are some programs but not like Philmont. At HH the hiking is the program. We had 3 tough prep hikes to get ready physically and to get the crew prepared mentally as well. We also had a morning hike every Saturday with packs at a local park.

· If you want to tour the Big Array make arrangements ahead of time. The tours are free but we were unable to work it into our schedule.

· Stoves – we took 3 whisper lights. 2 to cook on and a spare. We took 3 fuel bottles but only used 2. We only used the stoves at dinner for cooking and cleanup.

· Water – We had 3 MSR filters that worked great. At some of the water sources we had to clean them repeatedly but they are easy to take apart and clean so that was not a problem. We tried to pump water from the windmill pipe whenever we could by collecting the water in a pot and then pumping from the pot. We learned that sometimes waiting until evening would provide enough breeze to get the windmills turning. The water tanks are a lovely shade of green but the water looked and tasted fine after filtering. We also treated with polar pure to kill any viruses.

· Water – I packed 4 or 5 liters of water per day depending on the length of that days hike. I always had some water left when we reached camp. It’s good to have some kind of drinking tube so that you can constantly sip to stay hydrated. We all did fine but 2 members of the other crew that went out the same day we did had to be taken off the trail due to dehydration.

· I made my drinking tube out of a piece of tubing and plastic valve I bought at the hardware store. The tubing is what they use to hook up ice makers and there is no taste. I drilled a hole in the top of a 2 liter bottle cap a little smaller than the tube so I have a press fit. I added the valve on the other end with another short piece of tubing for a mouthpiece. The whole rig cost about $6, mostly for the valve. I can replace the tubing for about $.50 instead of trying to clean it. I did have to blow air into it occasionally to re-inflate the pop bottle. I carried 2 2-liters pop bottles and a 3 liter collapsible nalgene. (The idea that pop bottles cannot be reused because of cancer causing chemicals is a myth that continues to circulate the web).

· Hiking boots – Even more critical than at Philmont. Well broken in boots are a must. This is the first time the bottom of my feet got sore from hiking. Not sure what you can do about that, maybe go barefoot a lot to toughen them up ?

· Practice GPS and map and compass. HH is true wilderness navigation and your crew needs to know what they are doing. Be cautious with the GPS and use it only to check location. It can easily become a “video game” if overused.

· Tents – we took a variety of our own tents and ended up using one of the Philmont tents since one of ours arrived without the fly. (No it wasn’t lost, just forgotten) All the tents worked fine. Never had trouble with stakes going in and holding.

· Tarp - We used our own 10x12 lightweigh nylon dining fly with 2 8’ poles. Because of the open country and evening wind we only used 2 pole sections (4’) when pitching.

· Food – same as Philmont but there is no place to trade with other crews. I thought it was fine but I am not picky.

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Totally tuckered out.

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Looking a little ragged but almost home.

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In the Cinci terminal after the longest train ride ever.

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Go fish ! Between trains in Chi town.

Day 12 - Home

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The train rolls along. We layover in Chicago and head into the city in shifts to get real Chicago deep dish pizza. Not sure what all the hype is. It’s good but nothing different from any other good pizza.

We get on the train to Cinci and it is a real step down from the first train. Smaller seats, less room and more people. To make matters worse we are stuck at one end of a car with a broken door. As the train turns or rocks the door opens – bang – and closes – slam – and opens – bang – and closes – slam. It looks like it is going to be a very long night. I don’t know how right I am.

In the middle of the night we find out the train is delayed. First by a little, then by a lot. It turns out there are floods in Illinois and we have to take a detour that basically doubles the time it takes to get to Cinci. The train has been fun but this last leg puts us over the limit for train travel. It goes on and on and on. Door banging. Train bumping. If I did this again I would look into upgrading to a sleeper compartment.

The moms pick us up in Cinci and drive us (yawn) home. We stop for a big Bob Evans breakfast on the way. It has been quite an adventure.

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Some little station, somewhere, sometime in the middle of the night.

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Great clouds

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The conductor impresses us all with his artistic talent.

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Eagerly anticipating dinner.

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Watching the rain on the plain (no, we are not in Spain)

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Here we go, back on the train again.

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Ben gets schooled in table tennis.

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And of course, the hot tub.

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There was plenty of time to enjoy the large pool.

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The scouts busy themselves making the beds.

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Mean while Chuck watched Lord of the Rings for the 14th time.

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I wonder if they were taking pictures of us taking pictures of them.

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They came right over the hotel.

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Here they come.

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We were greated by flight of hot air balloons first thing in the morning.

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Another shot from the hotel

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This impressive massif overlooks Albuquerque

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Our great hotel - the Plaza Inn

Day 11 - R&R and then back on the train

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After sleeping in we open the drapes and are greeted by a half dozen hot air balloons heading our way through the morning light. They head right toward our hotel and look bright and cheerful against the dry blue New Mexico sky. Our train does not leave until around noon and there is nothing interesting within walking distance of our hotel so we spend our morning in the pool and hot tub or watching TV.

When it is time to leave for the train the shuttle driver does an impressive job of fitting all of us and our luggage into a single hotel shuttle. He clearly has had enough experience to know how to use every cubic inch of available space to his advantage.

We know the train routine and quickly board and get settled. It turns out that the crew that took care of us so well on the way out is on this run as well and we are happy to see each other again. After dinner the conductor entertains the boys by drawing a variety of super hero comic characters on the paper covering the tables. I snooze, read and listen to books on tape and prepare for another night of sleeping in a chair.

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Ready to invade the hotel

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Ears on and cruisin' down the highway

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A little more waiting

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The last desert flower

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Last chance to teach Taylor how to play Euchre

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Waiting for the van to the big city

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Load up those packs

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Hooray ! The trucks are here !

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Ganola and some kind of bar again today...

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Time for a leisurely breakfast.

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What a clever name for a gate.

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This tumbleweed's tumbling days are over

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Luke and Tim may be regretting wearing red T-shirts today.

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Keep on truckin

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Stampede !

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Does anyone see a gate ? Or a fence ? Or a road ?

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Maybe these tracks are from the coyote we heard last night.

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Purty

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The mysterious and unforgiving Serengheti stretches out before us....

Day 10 - Rene Tank to Basecamp to Albuquerque

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Our final day. Off across the Serengeti at dawn. I can appreciate it a little more this morning after a good night’s sleep. Taylor does not have the coordinates of the gate where we will be picked up so we head out in the general direction that seems correct. There are a lot of cattle around that eye us suspiciously. Some of the bulls let us know we are on their turf.

We keep moving and hoping to find a clue to where the gate is where we will be picked up. At one point a pickup truck comes out of nowhere down a road we have followed for a short distance and Taylor asks the driver if he knows where we need to go. It turns out we are heading in pretty much the right direction. The plan becomes keep going until we hit the fence, turn left and follow the fence until we find the gate. That works well and we arrive at the pickup point with enough time to eat breakfast before the vans arrive from the basecamp.

Now we are the dirty, grizzled, hardened hikers returning to the world. As we arrive at basecamp the clean and eager faces of those about to go out look us over. I don’t have much to say to them. “It’s tough” and “Take the high road when you have the chance” but there’s really nothing I can say to prepare them. We retrieve our gear and put things in order ready for the ride to the hotel in Albuquerque. Some of the crew unpack clean clothes and head for the showers. I decide to wait until we hit the hotel. I want my first shower to be long and hot. I want to be able to bask in the luxury of clean running water for a long time.

We check out the trading post looking for matching T-shirts for our crew but come away disappointed. They have an odd assortment of colors and sizes so that we cannot find what we need and come away empty handed. They suggest we order them from the web when we get back and that seems like a good idea. When we get back we will find there is even less available on the web.

The van arrives right on time to take us back to civilization. We are all tired and quiet on the ride. The scouts are happy to have their electronics back. A few of them snooze.

I’m aware in the van that I don’t exactly smell like a rose. The full realization of how gross I am doesn’t hit me until I walk into the lobby of the hotel. Fortunately for the other guests I don’t have to loiter there but go directly up to my room. The shower is fantastic. Not one of those anemic super water savers but a full blast of steamy water. What a great decision we made to stay overnight at this hotel before heading home.

The rest of the afternoon is a blur of napping, eating, and time in the pool and hot tub. The pool is large and deep and big enough to actually swim in. The scouts enjoy a game of “pickle” in the pool with a nerf football. Seeing all that pure water in one place is almost shocking after our week in the dry backcountry.

I know that tomorrow night I will be trying again to sleep on the train so tonight I really appreciate and enjoy an actual bed with clean sheets.

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The usual evening lightening storm off in the distance.

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Heavenly.

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Cool huh?

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Sky rays.

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The advisors help Ben do the dishes.

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Taylor checks in at home base. "I think we still have everyone I started with"

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The mythical hiking pole sock tree.

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Thank goodness they trucked some water in for us.

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Pitiful. Our victorious arrival at Rene camp.

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Neil's little friend. His name is Alexander.

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Oh no ! The well is dry ! We are doomed !

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Crossing the plain these fierce cows keep an eye on us. They leave us alone in spite of the pink panels on my backpack.

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The Serengetti plain stretches out before us. Our camp is somewhere on the other side.

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After lunch we look awesome. Compare this with the "arrival at camp" picture later on.

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Tim looks completely restored after lunch.

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Chuck takes a quick cat nap after lunch.

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After going up all day, now we wil get to go down some.

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We spot the other crew nearby at lunch. They are heading for Rene tank also.

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There was almost a mutiny by the tired crew before we made it to this saddle between two peaks for lunch.

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Nature

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Over hill and dale. (Can you tell I am running out of cute captions?)

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Wet your whistle by this little thistle.

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The Scouts came up with a nickname for the mountain in the center of this picture. Sorry, you will have to ask them.

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Better figure out where we are going.

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Steve sizes up an ant hill.

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Looks like an Elk came down for a drink last night.

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Tim thinks about taking a morning swim

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Time for breakfast.

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Back up the canyon from Lower Medley. This soft sand is just like walking on the beach. It wears you out in a hurry. .

Day 9 - Lower Medley Tank to Rene Tank

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Up before dawn again. Our sleep cycle has adjusted to the daylight and we have also learned that the more hiking completed before noon the better. This morning it is still dark when we get up. I see a spectacular shooting star cross the dark sky and explode at the end of it’s bright track.

We are packed up and on the trail quickly, continuing on down the stream bed for awhile. Crunch crunch crunch. The pebbles in the stream bed crunch. The grass crunches. Breakfast will crunch when we decide to eat.

We arrive at a water tank and decide it is a good place to have breakfast and top off our water. There is hunter’s tree stand next to the water. The tree it is nailed into is festooned with sap that has bled out of the nail holes. It is a violent artifact in the midst of this peaceful country.

Before long we are heading up and over a ridge. It is a relief to get out of the sand we have been hiking in. The top of the ridge provides a good view of a range of hills miles distant that lies between us and our next camp. The navigators spend some time with the map picking out a saddle in the line of hills where we can cross and then plotting the best route to get to it. When they are satisfied with their work we set a bearing on our compasses and head off down the far side of the ridge.

Everyone agrees on the larger navigation picture but there is occasional disagreement about the immediate trail. The crew periodically splits and then joins up again as groups of hikers try to find easier routes. Sometimes the routes pan out, sometimes they take a group too far off the bearing we are trying to follow and they have to be called back.

It is gratifying when we arrive at a rock formation that we spotted from across the valley. After hiking for an hour or so relying on a compass bearing and an idea of the terrain gleaned from the topo map it is exciting to arrive right where we expected. This is a good spot for a rest and we all drop packs and scramble for shade except for a few of the scouts who are compelled to climb the rock formation.

The next leg is long and uphill to the saddle that will take us through to the other side. There is more grass and larger pines indicating more water arrives here although it is just as dry now as everywhere else. As the morning gets hotter and the hike continues uphill nerves begin to fray. When you are going cross country with no trail there is always the thought that there is a much easier route that you are missing that is just around the corner. That thought nags more and more as the hike wears on. It also becomes more difficult to get consensus on when we should rest and for how long. The plan is to get to the top of the ridge before stopping for lunch but it seems like we will never reach the top. Just when I decide we will never stop going up hill the land levels off and then drops sharply away with a fantastic view across the plain below. We made it. We quickly search out comfortable spots among the rocks to collapse and eat lunch.

After some food and rest we all perk up and feel pretty good. We spot the other crew that is out here with us on a distant rock formation. They hear our calls but I am not sure they ever see where we are. We will not see them again until we get to camp.

We have already had what seems like a full day of hiking but we still have miles to go to get to camp. Hiking down to the plain is easy and fun. By now we are used to hiking on the talus that covers the hills and I prefer this hiking to the soft sand that we encounter in the valleys and canyons. The plain is another story. It is flat as a table and covered with soft sand peppered with clumps of grass. The clumps of grass prevent your feet from ever being flat on the ground. And now it is hot. It is unbelievably hot. Because of the length and difficulty of today’s hike we are crossing this plain in the hottest part of the afternoon. My feet are sore, I am very tired and this plain looks like it goes on forever. This is definitely the toughest day we have seen. I just take one step at a time and imagine I am Humphrey Bogart in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”.

After a long hike across what we have named “The Serengetti” we arrive at camp and pretty much collapse. It takes awhile before we can rouse ourselves to start putting the camp together and find the kybo and bear box. The kybo is about a half a mile away. I don’t know how the scouts even found it.

That night we are treated to a beautifull sunset and another lightening show over the distant hills. It has been a great week. Tomorrow we will hike to the pickup point. I am at once ready to return to the land of hot showers and sad that this trek is almost over.

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A quick game of "What's the worst leave no trace violation"

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Sunset.

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Great clouds rolled in in the afternoon.

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No wind in spite of the threatening sky.

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The holding tank was really thick icky green water but the pond next to the holdeing tank was not bad.

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Camp life always centered around getting water.

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This horned toad thought he was invisible

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Rick and Neil catch up on the days events

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The boys eat lunch while waiting for a flash flood.

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This little cactus almost went unnoticed

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This may be my favorite flower picture

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There is a simile or a metaphor here somewhere.

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Like I said...

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The day hike rewarded us with some great views

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It took us 10 minutes to balance the camera in a tree to get this great timer shot.

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Looking down on the camp during the adult day hike.

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Some kind of fuzzy sort of flower.

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Andy is smart enough to drop his pack for the climb.

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C'mon rick, you can do it.

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Taylor makes jumping up 6 feet with a pack on look easy

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This baby jackrabbit had a hard time climbing the steep bank.

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The only ground water we saw the whole trip was this puddle at the bottom of a steep canyon.

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Eating breakfast before we leave for a change

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Our day now begins at dawn.