Richly Rewarded..and exhausted

It’s morning. We wake to a thinner chorus of toads. Have they buzzed all night long? We resume our hiking past the second Squaw Canyon campsite and begin our eastward trek on along Lost Canyon. It’s not the shortest route, but we want to take the scenery. Before long I am into the most difficult hiking I’ve done to date. The day is bright and warming quickly. In many places the terrain is a slow challenge for my not-as-long-as-they-need-to-be legs. Jason is patient and helpful. He’s the one with the long legs.

At the next trail junction we continue east on the Peekaboo trail. The challenge now is about presence of risk rather than a matter of physical strength as we traverse smooth sweeping slick rock bowls. To the east are expansive, sweeping views. Below is the valley floor and a cliff that rises to the sloping path we are following. To the west, the bowl extends into pinnacles high above us. It’s wild and beautiful and no place to live up to my trail name. (I’ll do a face plant a day later on a flat, sandy unobstructed trail.) We arrive at our final obstacle: the ladder. It is anchored with a steep lean to the right; the rungs are further apart than a normal ladder; and the slot in which it descends is so narrow one cannot turn around at the bottom and is forced to proceed backwards until it opens again.

We arrive at the Peekaboo campground a couple hours later than expected. This is our junction to trek south along the Salt Creek trail. We plan to hike three or four miles further and follow a westward canyon taking us into our chosen camping zone for the evening. At the junction is an assortment of petroglyphs including two delightful turtles.

With concerns of fading daylight, we prepare dinner along the trail and within a couple miles make our path to the west for a campsite. We crawl into the tent exhausted under a sky glittered with stars.