redwinelover's Journal, 01 June 2010

Back from a long weekend of camping/hiking. Mixed feelings about it. The area we camped was so perfect and peaceful and beautiful last time. This time...well, let's just say NOT. Got there Thursday evening and set up before it was dark, and it was lovely and quiet. Went hiking the next day, Boynton trail or something. It was nice, especially for an AZ hike, but not nearly as beautiful as it is on the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon. Actually too much vegetation/trees to see the beautiful canyon walls all around you on that hike. But it was still a good hike and we returned to the road we camped off of totally shocked at all the people. I realize it was a holiday weekend, and we figured there would be people at most of the places to camp off the road, especially since the road is only about 5 or 6 miles long. It's one of the two dirt roads that connects 89A (thru Sedona) and I-17 in Flagstaff. But what shocked us was the sheer number of people PER site. I mean, a couple of the sites probably had over 35 people or more and 10 tents put up all around. We're used to seeing a couple, or a family, or a small group of people camping - but this was like family reunion time. AND...no offense intended here, but all of them played traditional Mexican music NON-STOP. I kid you not. I woke up at 4:00am and that stuff was still playing. Never a moment of peace and quiet, of enjoying the sounds of nature and quiet contemplation of the fire...the things we assumed people went camping for. So Friday night was a shocker for us. In a site nearest our own, maybe a football field length from us or more, was a group of at least 15 or maybe 20 people camping together. Lots of kids running around and screaming, which is expected for a while, and then I don't know how many adults talking loudly and calling to their kids and each other, etc. I mean, you'd think they were having a backyard party or something. Oh yeah...and the lovely sound of a generator going all day and most of the night. Generators! Gas powered generators should be limited in the amount of time they can run per day and definitely be turned off once it's dark, you know? And we found the music coming from several directions at once, too, as the creek curves around and is in somewhat of a canyon and so echos and how sound travels more at night...well, just not the peaceful back-to-nature camping trip we'd had before. The group nearest us finally erected some makeshift shelter to pee or crap in - nice since I'd seen more than one of them just pop a squat behind one of their vehicles. Good thing we have a "potty" tent - no real chance of privacy with all the people running all over the place. And the ATV's. Driven down the rough dirt "road" to our site because the one to their site was even more rough! And no sign from any of them that they knew it wasn't cool to do. Oh yeah, and the group from across the road, maybe an eighth of a mile down with the 50 or more people there...and the groups of 15 or so kids that would just walk practically through our site to get to the creek. Well, technically it was thru our site as we'd set up our target against the side of the hill there and they'd walk between it and the potty tent! WTF?! And from Thurs night until we were packing up on Monday, we never saw a forest ranger. It's such a short road there, it'd be really easy to keep everything under control. I'm writing a few letters. I know it's not a campground with rules, it's dispersed camping, but you'd think there would be SOME kind of regulations. So it sucks that we finally found a beautiful place in the forest next to a RARE stream in AZ, and it's been taken over by people who don't seem to be there to camp, just to be away from home, but with all the trappings of home, and no regard for those who appreciate nature. Sheesh. When we got up on Sat. we decided to drive on the other side of 89A to a dirt road because that one had a network of smaller offshoots that maybe would be nice to camp on and not so many crowds. Along the main artery, though, for a few miles in, we found pretty much the same thing. In fact, at one area, it honestly looked like a tent village, like maybe a group of gypsies, only they weren't. It almost looked "established", as if they weren't there camping so much as living. We guessed there were at least 20 or 25 tents set up there, probably more. Anyway, we spent the day driving through the forest and found only a small handful of possibilities and none of which was anywhere near a creek. Pretty disappointing, but went back to our site. Sat. night was more quiet and the generator actually stopped about 8:00 or so. They still played music, but not as loud as before and I think they may have actually turned it off around midnight. Of course, the others were still playing music all night long, but at least it wasn't right next to us. We thought about packing up and leaving, but decided we'd hike during the day and at night we'd pretend we were in Cabo on the balcony next to Edith's restaurant. That worked a bit : ) Sunday we went back to the West Fork of Oak Creek, this time prepared for walking thru the river at the end of the hike and going thru some of the narrows there. It was a great hike, again, and even cooler since we probably hiked a mile or mile and a half into the narrows. The water felt cold at first, but got used to it. Never actually went past the tops of my thighs at any point. We stopped when we reached a huge section that was filled with huge boulders. We didn't feel like scrambling up and over all of that, and we knew we still had a good 4 or 5 miles of hiking back to the car, so we stopped there and had lunch. It was such a great day of hiking. The weather was perfect, we'd gotten there by 9:30 am and didn't have to wait for parking, the morning was still relatively cool, but definitely warmed up a lot by the time we hit the river, so that felt great. And by the time we got back to the trail, itself, it was beginning to cool off and a lot of that trail is in and out of the shade, anyway. Made great time on the way back, too. On Sunday, I burned 4,174 calories! Holy crap! I so wish I hadn't decided to take the Costco giant sized bag of organic tortilla chips with us camping, otherwise I know I would have lost some weight! I know I ate far more in tortilla chips than I drank in beer and wine! Oh well, live and learn. We even stopped for an ice cream at DairyQueen after the hike on the way out of Sedona back to our site. All day we kind of hoped the group next to us packed up and left, but as they knew we were pissed at them, afraid, too, in case they decided to mess with our stuff. Got back before sunset and saw a couple of tents and a car there, but realized at least some of the group must have left. Then we realized they were different people - a husband and wife and small child and a baby. And they were QUIET : ). It was lovely. And then I felt bad fearing the others might mess with our stuff when we were gone if they were going to leave, as they didn't touch a thing. I shouldn't think the worst of people. That night was peaceful and the music from the other site or two wasn't as bothersome, either. Packed up Monday and we got home last evening worn out. : ) Today I'm dragging, and I'd stayed up and hung out with my son and caught up on things here, so I can't imagine I'm working out today. I uploaded the bodybugg and averaged burning 3492 calories per day over the five days. : ) : ) That's a lot for me. Again, too bad I ate all those damn tortilla chips! My downfall, apparently. Next time I will NOT buy them! Anyway, all in all it was a good trip. I don't know that I'd camp there again unless it's either during the week or not get there until Friday evening to gauge the climate. But then what if it's like it was this weekend? I guess drive over to the other side of the road and camp, if we're there to do Sedona hikes. Otherwise we may as well go back to the Mogollan Rim and camp and take our canoe. That's an option.
Okay, I unloaded enough : ) I didn't track calories at all this trip, again. I'll weigh myself probably day after tomorrow. I'm sure with all the chips and all the sodium, it wouldn't be a good thing to weigh myself now : )

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1335 kcal

Fat: 40.54g | Prot: 92.14g | Carb: 162.37g.   Breakfast: organic flax pumpkin granola, greek style yogurt, Sugar Free French Vanilla Coffee Creamer, English Walnuts, Almonds, Strawberries. Lunch: strawberries, Multi Grain Wrap, Roasted Garlic Hummus. Dinner: baby carrots, baked beans, low fat mayo, hot dog bun, amy's sausage. Snacks/Other: skinny dippers, Cheese Wedges, premier nutrition protein shake. more...

2113 kcal

Activities & Exercise: Desk Work - 3 hours, Standing - 1 hour, Circuit Training - 40 minutes, Resting - 11 hours and 20 minutes, Sleeping - 8 hours. more...