Not really, but this hike was so boring we got to doing some creative story telling toward the end just to pass the time.
This was our THIRD trip to Pemberton Trail. The first time was because we needed a 15 mile loop, which it provides quite nicely. It was a boring hike that was made tolerable by the beautiful desert flowers that were in bloom back then.
The second time we hike Pemberton we needed a 15 mile loop and a 10 mile loop to emulate the distances of the Canyon. This was the hike we couldn’t complete because of Gray’s stomach issues, and this time the look was past boring.
So, the thought of going back there a third time wasn’t too thrilling, but we still needed the 25 mile hike under our belt. Thankfully Gray had the good idea to do the 15 mile loop in the opposite direction from what we had done the first two times, so that helped a bit. It was also a Saturday, which meant there were more people on the trail (at least in the morning) so that provided something to break up the monotony (countless mountain bikers, three runners, two equestrians, and one snake crossed our path).
The good news is that we made it. The middle six or so miles were very rough going (the last three miles before lunch and the first three after lunch). Not sure why but neither of us felt as spunky as we had figured…possibly the heat, possibly the after-effects of wandering around the University of Arizona on Thursday and Friday, possibly just a glitch in our giddy-up. In any case we powered through and got the hike done, which is a huge confidence builder for us both! Took about nine hours (including our lunch break) so that’s a good pace as well.
In the morning there had been 15-20 cars in the parking lot when we arrived. When we got back at 4:00pm (102 degrees) here’s what we found:
Where did everybody go???
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