Semi-Apocalyptical Burnt Out Mountain Hike
The next day, I woke up at 6AM, after a surprisingly restful night of sleep by the traintrack-side hostel. I decided I had time to hike Mt. Elden, just north of Flagstaff.
A unpaved road off Highway 89/Route 66 leads to the Little Elden Springs trailhead. The trail leads through a pretty golden meadow beneath the mountain, dotted with ponderosa pine, white bark birch and happy, Christmas-y douglas fir. The birds sang, and the soft morning light flitted through the trees and reflected on the tall flaxen grass. It was like fricken Bambi or something.
About a mile in, the trail intersects with the Little Bear Trail, which winds its way through the forest and up the mountain. Wide, swinging switchbacks lead through the trees, past several overlooks where you can see all the way to the desert. Gray squirrels with bushy white tails dart along the path.
For the longest time, it was just me, alone with the mountain. Halfway up, I encountered 2 extreme looking ladies that were literally powerwalking up the mountain with their dog, and then some mountain bikers on the more-often used sunset trail. Other than that, the trails were completely desolate. It was especially desolate on the Heart trail.
The east slope is completely different from the verdant, evergreen forested north side I had climbed. The entire slope was destroyed by the Radio Fire of 1977, or so says the Coconino National Forest website. This made the mountain look both strikingly beautiful and achingly desolate all at once.
The lack of foliage meant I could see all the way down the mountain --- down the red, plunging slope dotted with dead trees that rose high in the foreground and like tiny pins in the distance. The path was steep and gravely, impossible to navigate with any speed, and seemed to threaten to dissapear around the next corner. I was constantly looking down into the distance and thinking, how the hell is this path getting down there?
It had been cold in the chilly mountain morning, but now the sun beat down relentlessly.
The last part of the hike was generally flat, along a sandy path that wound its way around the mountain back to the north side. I was so tired and parched at this point, it felt like forever, like one of those movies where some british guy stumbles through the desert while licking his canteen for its last drops of moisture.
I encountered a grizzled looking hippie dude with an external frame backpack going the opposite direction. He looked kinda like Jesus. He looked at me and said "It's not far". You is wise, hippie Jebus, you is wise!
I think I could have started hallucinating at any point there.
Anyway, I got back to the parking lot in one shape. I can't really figure out how long the hike actually was -- one website says 12.1 miles, another says 6.3, the Cococino national forest map makes it look about 8-10, but in any case it took about 4 hours and 45 minutes with smoker's lungs and mild hallucinations.
Happy trails!
|
|
|||
|
|
Smoke a cigerette in the back lot and you'll hear the most stereotypical "hostel" talk ever: George Bush blah blah Americans blah blah Philosphy blah blah Capitalism blah blah Europe blah blah." It's like I'm back in college or something.
As for the hostel itself, it's pretty typical as well. There's internet (with a fee), breakfast of coffee and toast, dorm rooms for $17 and more expensive privates.
Check in early to get a room at the nicer part of the hostel. Check in late and you may be assigned to the De Beau Hostel, which is a collection of unheated rooms a block away from the main hostel, and where I ended up. It's a short walk back to the main hostel, where you can use the internet, get breakfast and hang out.
I stayed in a 6 person dorm (4 beds occupied). The room and bathroom were very clean. There's a nice little kitchen, laundry facility and pool table right outside the rooms, all free. Next door is a deserted plant nursery and Christmas tree lot, which is kinda cool.
There was no heat in the De Beau area of the hostel and in the Flagstaff winter, it got very, very cold. Thank god not all the beds were occupied at the time -- I had to take every unused blanket to keep warm. In addition, the hostel is right next to the train tracks, and the train seriously comes by, like, every 15 minutes, and it's very very loud.
There was a fight in the parking lot in the middle of the night, probably between Dude-Who-Drinks-and-Argues and Dude-Who's-Been-Here-Too-Long. In my book is a good thing becaus I like to gawk, but I was too tired to check it out.
|
|
|
