Wilderness Women Don't Sing the Blues

Wilderness Women at West Baldy Trail Head - 2 More Joined Our Adventure After Work

Women like me aren't difficult to typecast; iPhone toting, REI-shopping lover of the outdoors.  I can light a campfire, pitch a tent, and in bear country know better than to sleep with my chocolate chip cookies next to my head.  But the finer skills of backcountry life must be earned by "just doing it" - without gallant husbands or guys to do the hard or scary stuff.  And sometimes it's fun to get out there with gal pals and enjoy a different type of campsite conversation and camaraderie. That's why our Meet-up group of Arizona Women of Adventure packed as much as we could stuff into our towering backpacks and headed out to camp and hike the 15 mile loop on Mount Baldy - one of the highest peaks in the White Mountains of Arizona.     

Our First Steps - Making Peace With Our Backpacks

Our small group of "Adventurous Women" gathered at the trailhead parking lot.  The ground looked like an REI garage sale.  We were all trying to figure out how to reduce our carry weight by sharing equipment - each calling out inviting ideas to lighten the load.  "I have a tube of really effective DEET bug spray.  I'll take that and we can all use it."  Another gal offers,  "my Neutrogena is SPF 45 and doesn't sting your eyes - you are all welcome to use mine".  And so it goes with excessive snacks and our third "extra pair of socks" (just in case!) going back into the car to make these mammoth backpacks a little more manageable at 30 or so pounds.  

Sara's Mary Poppins Backpack
She Kept Pulling Out Amazing Things
To Include a Hammock, Tarp Patio, Dog Dishes, Tiki Torches,
and Last But Not Least, Happy Hour Cheese and Crackers

Even in it's lighter version, my backpack is the size of a Smartcar.  It has a dozen pockets, 6 zippers, and a functioning bladder.  With a little help from each other we don our packs, staggering the first few steps until we make peace with our burden.  Walking with our hiking poles to give us stability we travel at a brisk pace but slow enough to appreciate the beauty around us.  We backpacked a little over 3 miles into the wilderness when Sara, our expedition organizer, finds our remote campsite; the most perfect spot you could ever imagine.  We shed our backpacks (a sweet feeling as it slides off) and take it all in.  The pine and spruce covered mountain, signs of wildlife and the Little Colorado River.  The river will be our camp "water feature"  and security moat which we must cross on a large log to get to our well camouflaged dark forest and fern green home.  This isn't a Women's Adventure outing, it's a John Denver song.   

To the left is the gurgling Little Colorado River which we called our "water feature".  It also functioned as a moat to keep our little haven private.

 To the right is our foot spa and water purification plant site.  When our tootsies got tired there is nothing better than a cold soaking in stream water.

Location Location Location
Waterfront Property With Old Growth Trees 

Below is our moat bridge which was a bit tricky to navigate with 30+ pounds on your back.  The campsite was worth the risk however. 

A Few Adjustments and We Have A Working Tent

The last time I put up this ultralight two person tent my husband did most of the work.  Now it is women doing for themselves and we are psyched.  My tentmate and I - Julie C and Julie B - don't bother with pesky directions.  Our first attempt looked something between a spaceship and a pirate ship.  Which we blew off to campsite performance art.  Fortunately there are only so many possible combinations of Chinese nylon and snap-on poles and shortly we erected a perfectly assembled and sited tent. Funny how accomplished you can feel over little things like that.  


As we sit around our campsite excited conversations mellow out.  We look out on the mountain we will climb tomorrow, sipping our tea and coffee that we made by purifying our river water and lighting our  personal cookstoves.  Time slows.  Smartphones go dumb.  We  eat our rehydrated gourmet dinners sitting around on logs looking out on the night.  Either through Sara's brilliant planning or serendipity, tonight is the summer solstice with the added bonus of a "supermoon".  We grow silent in awe as the brilliant and immense globe of the moon rises above the treeline.  No matter what it took to get out here it has been worth it.  A chance to connect with our inner selves and other women.  No matter our background, skills or life situation, we bond over the one thing we all common - the mother we are spending quality time with over the next three days;  Mother Nature.  

Julie C - Our Resident Songwriter Belts Out A Tune On Big Agnes - Her Air Mattress Guitar

Sara's Hammock - We Laughed At It and Then Took Turns Swinging Under the Trees - Hammock Envy!

Surveying Our Empire and Calling In Our Late Arrivals To the Campsite
We Were So Well Hidden Only The Wildlife Knew We Were There

Breakfast On The Sun Porch

Soaking Tired Tootsies In The Cold Stream

Hours Of Breathtaking Trail To The Top 

Happy Hour On Sara's Patio
The LED Tiki Torches Are On the Log

Rest Break On The Trail Up 

Our Solstice SuperMoon

Our Water Purification Plant
Filling Hydration Bladders For the Big Push In The Morning

Two Small Ice Fields On The Way Up
Theresa Throwing Snowballs on the Summer Solstice

The Top of Mt Baldy - YAY!!!

Rubbing The Rust Off My Russian

“That’s the first time I've pan-handled in a foreign country,” Glen said.  “Or any country,” I added.   

72 hr Visa-free ferry Helsinki-St Petersburg

Glen and I walked off the overnight ferry from Helsinki rolling our luggage and studying the map of St Petersburg, Russia.  My “immediate immersion plan” was to find the nearest ATM, get some rubles, buy some metro tokens and take the underground subway to our B&B.  No sissy taxis or tour guides for us.  Unfortunately, step one – get rubles at an ATM - wasn’t easy.   Where are all the ATMs?

Comfy ferry masquerading as a cruise ship- our stateroom

“Will you sell me some rubles for dollars or Euros?” I asked a sweet looking woman in my best but rusty Russian.  I went on to explain to the woman on the street that we only needed to trade enough rubles to buy two metro tokens so we could get to our lodging.  She shook her head, gave us two metro tokens, and said smiling, “A gift from me to you.  Welcome to St Petersburg!” 

We eventually saw an ATM on the street

After profuse thanks and smiles Glen and I made our way into the underground metro system and saw a row of ATMs from various Russian and international banks.  Maybe we should have asked that woman where to find an ATM instead.  But finally were able to buy enough rubles to see us through our three days in this historic  and friendly city. 

I had been on a different Russian metro many times way back in the 90’s - Moscow.  My last assignment as an Army officer was conducting nuclear weapons inspections around the Ural Mountains, close to Siberia.  We usually spent a couple of days in Moscow enroute to our destination and on the way home.  So this trip was interesting to Glen as his first trip to Russia, and fascinating to me to see how far things had come since I was there in the shaky days of the Soviet meltdown.  Right now I wanted to compare the Russia of 15 years ago to the ultra-capitalistic Russia of today.  For over 20 years I had used my Russian for work - now it was so rusty - thankfully I didn't have to use any past perfective participles (I never liked those much anyway) and we got by just fine.    

Site of 1703 St Petersburg Fortress
on Vasilevsky Island

A little background history on this famous St Petersburg metro (opened in 1955) and their "longest escalators in the world".  Back in 1703, Peter the Great decided to build a city on a rotten, fetid swamp.  "By nature we are fated here to cut a window to Europe" (Alexander loved Europe).  Thousands of Swedes and Russians (serfs had it bad) died in the process of building a city on an uninhabitable marsh, but finally a wooden fortress was erected, and St Petersburg was founded. 

Fast forward some 250 years later, and someone invented the St Petersburg Metro.  To compensate for the fact that the city was built on a swamp, most of the stations were built far below the ground (back in Cold War days they served nicely as nuclear bomb shelters).  

Does not do justice to the steepness or depth of this
4,550 ft deep metro escalator

As former residents of Washington D.C., Glen and I are used to metros and the deep underground escalators that accompany them.  But words cannot describe the depth and rapid descent of our first escalator ride into the St Petersburg Metro.  We were on the system's deepest station, Admiralteyskaya, which is 105 meters (4,550 ft)  below ground.  And steep.  Anyone with height issues better close their eyes.  But there must not be too many agoraphobics in St Petersburg because their metro serves over two and a half million passengers a day, making it one of the busiest metro systems in the world.   And finally, the metro artwork - the main reason I wanted to start Glen's first trip to Russia underground in the subway.  Have a look at the artwork and interior designs of some metro stations in St Petersburg:  

Pretty Nice for Having Opened in 1955

  

Heroic Battle Murals Are Common Themes

Named After A Famous Cosmonaut 

This reminded Glen and I of the Space Race of the Cold War era.  Seems so harmless now but at the time we used to really worry they would get to the moon before the USA!  Now that we got there????

 One of the more ornate metro designs in St Petersburg.  Must have seemed decadent during those grey Stalinist years.  Actually it still does considering that according to the guide book (2010), 20% of apartments in cities like Moscow and St Petersburg are still occupied by multiple families.

 Our lovely metro tokens for 22 rubles per person.  You can ride all over town and tour the underground for about .75 cents USD.  Nobody sneaks onto this metro - guards at the turnstiles and grim looking but pretty "watchers" placed at the top and bottoms of the escalators.  No hanky panky on those long escalator rides! Come to think of it, we did see a bit of smooching during those 3-4 minute rides.  Waste not a moment.

 

Cold Fusion of Adventure

The Prize!  Cibecue Falls

 When it’s snowing you really don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking about climbing boulders and wading through water for a hike with your girlfriends.  But when you are an official member of “Arizona Women of Adventure” you may not have a choice.  Two days of steadily falling spring snow had interrupted our warm, sunny weather and plans for my first hike of this very special and remote canyon. I expected our hike to be cancelled by Sara, our organizer and four time veteran of the remote, physically demanding Cibecue Canyon Falls hike near the White Mountains of Arizona.   But what Woman of Adventure doesn’t quicken to the call of a 4 mile bouldering, wading, steep canyon wall hike with a thundering water fall at the end? 

Entrance Through the Indian Reservation

No matter how many times you hike into a steep canyon, it’s always a thrill.  Lucky for the six of us, the drive to the trailhead took us down, down, down from our 7,000 ft home elevation of the Mogollon Rim.  As we descended we got below the snow line.  We knew we would be picking our way through the water and climbing boulders, so the absence of fluffy,  white stuff was a psychological boon if nothing else.  The water was still what you would call “fresh” if you are hard core.  Downright cold if you are a “wimper”

As we parked at the trailhead I switched from my “water shoes” to my serious hiking boots.  There was nothing tropical about this hike and some of the boulders we had to climb were room sized. I decided that if there came a point where I couldn’t feel my feet from the cold water, I at least wanted a good grip on the rocks.  Lucky for us, one of our group is a geologist and we came to see the rocks and boulders as very special instead of obstacles. 

Rapids and Boulder Add Interest for the Jaded Hiker

“Are you ready for this” the “other Julie” called out when were forced into the water where the trail fizzled and the boulders were swallowed by steep canyon walk.  I can't say that I entered that water with enthusiasm, but most of enjoyment in an adventure is attitude. They don’t call us adventurous for nothing!  Plus, outings like this improve your fitness and focus.  With a combination of steep boulders and thigh deep water over loose rocks you have to consciously place every footstep.

Steep Canyon Walls with Tributaries Lead to Salt River

As it turned out the water started to feel warmer the closer we got to the end of the canyon and headwaters. The water and “trail” zigged and zagged so much that every so often a totally new scene would unfold before us.   Cibecue Canyon is a steep canyon of  basalt and colorful quartzite.  From down in it, you can never see all of it or even much of it as it rises in mighty stacks around you. With dozens of boulders to go around or over we migrated more and more to wading across the Cibecue Creek rapids with our walking poles for stability. Better to fall in the water than to fall from a boulder!

A Hardcore Group of Adventurous Women

At last, we raised our arms and gave Tarzan yells when we turned a corner and saw the 100 foot waterfall at the canyon head.  The waterfall thundered down into a deep pool that in better conditions begged skinny dipping.  As we gathered on the rocky beach for lunch, we realized every step was worth this; drive through the snow, climb those boulders, slip on those rocks in the rapids, and yes, perhaps a touch of hypothermia….we WILL go back.  Next time will seem so easy.

Two Julies Middle Name Adventure

Ready For Bouldering

Ready For Wading

Picking A Reasonable Route Through the Boulders and Rapids

 

Sky Island Woman Gets Dowsed

Searching For Water In a Parched Stretch of Country

Whiskey's Fer Drinkin' N Water's Fer Fightin'

I am standing on a rocky hilltop under a scrawny alligator juniper tree with two friends, Tim and Mary. We are on their property - one of the highest places you can live close to Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains (Sky Islands one and all)   The view down into the valley is spectacular with a harsh, high desert beauty.  To anyone watching with binoculars, the three of us look idly on, watching something curious indeed.  We are fascinated by Glen, my super analytical, engineer husband who walks back and forth holding a freshly cut, forked, willow branch at waist level, waiting for a profound interaction between himself and the earth. As he passes back and forth over one specific area, the rods splay wildly."Well, there you have it," Glen says as he paces off what he believes is a river of underground water running through the mountain at that very spot.

Glen's Favorite Medium - A Fresh Green Branch

Glen is a dowser, a finder of subterranean water and perhaps things like buried minerals or oil were he to set his mind to it.  In the hands of dowsers, metal rods turn and forked sticks pull downward, sometimes twisting skin and defying all understanding of what is driving that energy.  How does dowsing work? 
Glen likens a dowser to an antenna picking up natural vibrations. Some physicists theorize that infinitesimal vibrating strings are the building blocks of the universe.There are other theories: energy fields, clairvoyance, brain wave frequencies..... Dowsing seems to come naturally to some people like Glen who has achieved a local reputation as a gifted dowser.  But as he says, "maybe it's my price that can't be beat - homemade chocolate chip cookies as payment."

Glen Practices His Dowsing Skills In Our Backyard

Like elsewhere in the West, water is scarce in the Sky Islands.  The nearby San Pedro River, a once lush riparian corridor, is drying up and you can spend a lot of money drilling for water - especially at these high elevations over 5,000 ft where you have to find underground rivers instead of aquifers.  Water drillers charge $22 - $24 dollars a foot in these parts.  Neighbors and friends have drilled too many dry 1,000 foot holes for Tim and Mary to not take a chance on this nonscientific but amazingly reliable technique.   As Glen said, "if you need to drill for water somewhere on your property, why not drill where the dowsing rods tell you.

Back-Up Metal Rods When U Can't Find  A Tree

Dowsing or witching as it was called in the old days is nothing new.  Paintings on cave walls in the north of Africa dating back 8,000 years show a dowser holding a forked stick. Depictions on pottery and tomb walls show dowsing staffs being used by ancient Egyptians.  A 4,000-year-old bas-relief with inscriptions speaks of dowsing by an Emperor of China.  Military figures such as Napoleon and Patton traveled with dowsers to find fresh water on the march, and corporations still use it extensively to locate fresh water, oil and minerals.

Sky Island Woman - Dowser Wannabe

 For those of us like Sky Island Woman, not born with the "gift", it can be both eerie and fascinating to watch in action.  Glen's success rate for water drilling is 100% and usually at depths much more accessible than non- dowsed wells in the area.  Dowsing has its skeptics for sure. But for those who don't believe, no amount of evidence is enough, and for those who have seen it work, no scientific evidence is necessary.   

If Sky Island Woman can learn to dowse she'll take her rods and look for the Lost Dutchman's Mine!