2009-05-25 35 -105

Expedition

After much searching the day before, I finally got a hand held GPS, the Garmin eTrex H. Its basic and functional, just the way I like it. The hash generated for today looked perfect, just a mile behind the Camel Rock Casino, and the satellite photos made the hike look like a breeze, just past a large arroyo. The time was ripe for cherry picking, my first hash would be an easy grab with great rewards. Oh how I was wrong.

We parked at the casino and headed out, trying to hide our camera, we were a little worried about the tribal authorities, but we didn't see another soul the entire trip so it was not an issue. We headed out behind the casino down an arroyo and, at first, the terrain was nice and easy, in fact we stayed in the arroyo and searched for cool rocks. After about a quarter of the way to the spot, we hit a steep incline, Gina was apprehensive but I pushed and we continued on. Finally, about half way to the hash, she decided she had enough. The first rumbles of thunder helped convince her.

But I'm brave/stupid and, being convinced that the hash was just over the ridge we had been climbing, convinced her to find a nice rock and rest while I went on alone. The climb got tough at one point when the incline steepened and the hill was mostly loose gravel. I made it to the top and waved at Gina who was only barely visible at this point. That's when I realized I was only about half way there. At the top of the hill I had been climbing was, well, the other side of the hill, so down I went. Now when I say hill, I don't mean some grassy covered knoll, this is New Mexico and it's mostly dirt and rocks and sharp inclines around here.

Down that hill was another hill but this one wasn't as steep or high as the last. So up and down one more time and I arrived at the larger arroyo that was visible in the satellite view on Google maps. The hash was right behind some bushes on the other side. I made it, snapped a few pics and BOOM! oh yeah, that storm was rolling in. I wanted to make it back before any heavy rains started, as that would make this trip go from hard and fun to down right dangerous very fast. I scrambled up and down the first hill and about halfway up the bigger hill the hail started, it was only dime sized but I could already see the look on Gina's face.

My legs burned and I was completely out of breath, but I was pushed by the hail. I scrambled on and, when I got to the top of the hill, started yelling for Gina to head back to the car. She didn't budge. I got to the spot she was waiting at and she threw the water bottle she was holding at me, luckily I'm a ninja and it missed me. We continued back to the car in silence. The good news was the hail stopped. Back at the car we made up, snapped a few pics of us being soaking wet and went home to enjoy the rest of our Sunday.

Soooo you may ask where all the pics we took are. Well, it took me the better part of a year to actually write this, and in the mean time I reformatted my hard drive. So yes, I have no proof of any of this. But hey, it gives me an excuse to re-visit this hash on another day, maybe Memorial Day '10!

Virgin graticule, two wet rats, and making mother nature my bitch. Now THAT'S a memorial day!