theboondork's RV blog

a hike in the desert

3/10/2019

All the pictures today are of my hike in the desert this morning.

Since it was such a nice day I decided to drive over to some mountains that are 3 or 4 miles up the road from me and take a walk. Now by no means are these mountains by Colorado standards, their basically just rocky hills, but every now and then I feel the urge to stand on ground that's not completely flat and I figured these hills will work just fine for that.

Unfortunately it didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. I turned on a dirt road and drove until I saw what looked like a nice area to hike in but from a distance what looked like some fine hiking ground turned out to be too dangerous for my diminished skills and increasing concerns.

I walked around on the inclines a bit but I couldn't get up on top of anything because the rock was either hard and sharp or decomposed and would slough off or turn into gravel under your feet. So not wanting to take a chance on injuring myself out in the middle of nowhere I just walked around on the not so steep areas where there was less chance of an unplanned back flip.

It is a pretty area if you like the desert environment but like most deserts it's very inhospitable and will not suffer fools for long. When I got back home I looked at the weather forecast and it looks like it's supposed to rain tomorrow and the next day so it's a good thing I did this today.

theboondork

Driving around in the desert Ajo Arizona

And folks wonder why I have so many scratches on my truck. Around here they're called Arizona racing stripes, and you earn them by driving around in the desert.

4 Comments

Ted link

3/11/2019 03:25:07 pm

Good call. I foolishly took a shortcut down some rocks last August and discovered the hard way that the rough surface would slough off. Down I went, about a 6-ft slide. I'll have some scars on my right leg for life but at least my right shoulder seems to have recovered full movement after the dislocation and no it longer aches.

Tom

3/11/2019 04:40:22 pm

Wow! That sounds terrible. My first biggest worry is getting hurt like that out in the middle of nowhere. And my second biggest worry is getting hurt bad enough that I can't get out by myself.

Before I became a full timer I would let someone know where I was going so at least I would have some hope someone would come looking for me... Eventually. But now I'm always in places where I don't know anyone to tell so my choices are stay home, or be extra special careful.

Tom

3/11/2019 06:38:13 pm

Not as bad as it sounds, Tom. The leg scars are from shallow scrapes—just a whitening of the skin that should fade a bit in time. Mere cosmetic damage (it would be serious if I were a young woman). It's the pain and loss of mobility in my shoulder and arm that worried me. And that went away after about six months.

Since then I have tried to hike within cell reception (my smartphone is my hiking GPS & always with me) and stay safely on well-established trails. No more bushwacking if I can help it, and super care taken if it can't be helped.

3/11/2019 07:24:19 pm

My problem was I've always been a bushwhacker, I found it more interesting to go places most people had never gone before so I avoided established hiking trails and just walked through the woods or followed game trails up in the mountains.

I still do some of that when I'm in Colorado because my family knows approximately where I'm at, but I try to avoid anything that looks challenging when I'm anywhere else. I'm very aware that my reaction times and balance is nowhere near as good as it used to be so copying your idea of staying within cell phone reception would be a wise move on my part.

Tom

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a hike in the desert

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