Kelsey had warned me it was a tough hike. When I first texted Kailey to ask if she wanted to do this on Tuesday, I told her- it is going to be really hard, so make sure you are ready! And bring lots of water & some food! This was the most beautiful hike ever. And most treacherous. I kept saying I would never do this hike again... But now that I am looking at pictures, I am tempted to go back and do it!
After the first couple of miles of hiking, you come to this smooth basin area. This picture kind of captures how stee[ it is.
It is more accurate it say that you climb this mountain, not hike it... Most of the time you have to use all 4 limbs to get up!
My least favorite part was all of the loose rocks. It was really hard to find rocks that didn't just fall away when you tried climbing on them. Which made it hard to climb up, because you would hear rocks starting to fall, and have to get out of the way so they wouldn't hit you in the face or arm! (no joke!)
It still amazes me how cactus & plants grow straight out of the side of a mountain or a rock.
The views from the top were worth it!!
I love how blue the sky is out here!
I had such a great time hanging out with Kailey & hearing about how God is working in her life!
What a neat girl!
Can't get enough :)
A little picture of what we climbed up... The hike took us 6 1/2 hours total.
Beautiful views the whole way!
Thank you, Maurice for taking this picture for us, and for encouraging me & then scolding me for sitting on the ledge for this shot.
A view southeast, from the top.
and some more...
The way up the Flat Iron was pretty tough. The hardest part was all of the loose rocks & steep climbing we had to do. Sometimes you weren't really sure where the path was, so we just getting trying to head up, and go where the rocks weren't so loose. The view from the top was definitely worth it!! Before we left the top, we talked with our new friends Keith & Maurice. They were both in the early 60's, and I was shocked they climbed up it. Seriously, I give those two a lot of credit! When we passed them on the way up they told us "girls, this hike isn't going to get any easier for you than it is right now!" Not sure if that was encouraging or depressing. Kind of random note is that Maurice had homeschooled his kids (now all grown, and with their own families), and so we talked about BJU, Saxon Math, Abeka, etc. for awhile. Very random.
So on the way back down, we start heading down the mountain. The trail is not marked. Well, it is partially marked. Mile 2-3 has some random blue dots on some rocks. But it is really hard to tell what is the trail and whats not. The ranger at the station when we entered the park told us "all you gotta do is go up on the way up,and keep heading down on the way down." ummmm, okay. We thought it would be simple enough to get down. So we started down the mountain, and then it kept getting tougher and tougher. A couple of times I was hanging on with my arms fumbling with my legs, trying to find footholds to climb down. I would eventually find on and make it to the next ledge. For some reason we just thought it was harder going down than coming up. We didn't think about the fact we could be on the wrong trail. After a really difficult area, where I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it around/down this boulder, we found ourselves on this tiny ledge, on the very edge of the mountain, with no trail either way. The rock was too flat to try and climb down. The only way out was back up. So we turned around & tried to get back up the way we came. There's this funny thing called gravity that helps you get down things easier than up. I found out why pull-ups are so hard. There was one rock in particular I could not get up/around. I kept trying and couldn't find a place for my hand to grab on to. I took a break and told Kailey I would just enjoy the view for a minute. "I can't enjoy the view, Courtney." she snapped back. Oops. I thought about the fact that we really could be stuck on this ledge...I started to feel a little panicked. I knew they wouldn't get a helicopter in to rescue us. It would probably just mean that we needed coaching to find a way back out. Somehow, we finally made it up out of that area. It was scary. It made me realize that you have to be very careful and aware of your surroundings or you can very easily end up stuck! We discovered our mistake when we got back to the top... We were supposed to keep winding further north/east before cutting down the mountain. Won't do that again!
Whew, SO relieved we made it back to the real path.
Storm rolling in.
The very furthest mountain, in the middle, with the line through the middle is the Flat Iron! So cool!
My favorite mountains/National Forest out here, so far. (haven't spent enough time in Coconino NF, but Im sure I would love that too!!)
Coming down the mountain we got to see Phoenix get hit with a dust storm!!
Another random story... When we made it to the bottom & were walking back in to Lost Dutchman State Park, there was a camera man taping a backpacker, two search & rescue guys with all of their gear on, and some sort of director. As we approached them, one of the search and rescue guys yells at us "man, we're glad to see you girls made it down! Your brother called & said that you should have been down the mountain an hour ago!" I quickly replied "thats impossible, he didn't even know what time we were supposed to be done with this." The officer pushed his story- "no, seriously, he called us up an hour ago and said that you two had hiked up the mountain & gave us your descriptions & told us that you should have been down the mountain an hour ago, and to keep a watch out, or we would have to come find you!" The second guy backed up his story "yeah, glad we didn't have to come get you guys!" I just started laughing, because I thought it was hilarious that out of all the wild stories he could come up with, this was a pretty close one... We should have been down the mountain an hour before, my brother is one I am here living with, and we were still pretty shook up at our close call of being stuck on the mountain, that a search and rescue didn't seem that crazy to us! These guys were there as a part of a documentary they were filming about the Flat Iron hike, including how people get stuck & don't pack enough water, headlamps, etc. We realized once they started quizzing us that we had left my headlamp in the glove box of my car, and that we were both almost completely out of water. And our cell phones don't have service up there. Oops.
We finished the evening with showering at Kelsey's apartment & then re-fueled with the best Thai food in Phoenix. $8.00 Panang Curry at a tiny little place in Mesa. That food tasted like the best thing I have ever eaten. :)
Now that it has been a couple of weeks since I hiked the Flat Iron, and I have time to think it over, I would actually love to go back. It is very challenging, but a very rewarding hike.
Things I will do different next time:
-Carry my headlamp.
-Let someone know when I should be down from the mountain.
-Wear some cheap capris so I don't tear my legs up (I fell a few times coming down, and now have a lot of scars on my legs/knees)
-Pay more attention to the trail.
-Start earlier in the day so that it isn't the hottest at the most difficult part up the trail.
Can't wait for the next time!!
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