Training Log Archive: JanetT

Event: Southwest Spring B-Meet in the Sun
 

Catalina SP north of Tucson, 60s and beautifully sunny. But I forgot how to orienteer! Not running so I should have done this perfectly. Good to 1&2, but I missed 3 high & to the right (a short leg, should have been 2-3 minutes took over 5). Fine to 4. Then choice was contour thru desert veg to reentrant or drop down a bunch of contours to go around then climb back up. I contoured, hit what I thought was my trail and then attacked from a bend. No control; too many nondescript boulders. Kept trying; someone on Green (their 2) also there. Eventually decided to skip and go on. Probably too high on the hill and probably off my 1:7500 map; eventually ran into a baffled Deb Humiston (on Green) who helped me decide how to relocate.

Relocated far from where I thought I was, found #6; decided not to go cross-country 300m back to #5 and continued from there with no trouble. Saw a jackrabbit(!) and got jumped by a cholla near my 8, but nothing else of note. :-)

Tomorrow is another day.

EDIT: Uploaded FR track, and quickrouted it on a photo of the map. Track shows I hit the trail after 4 JUST (mere meters) north of #5 but didn't confirm where I was on the trail (should have headed south to see...) and thought I was farther west. I actually hit it AT my planned AP, but never realized it at the time. Stupid. I may post the QR map after we get home, or I may not. :-)

Results

Brown Long course:

From Track jpg files

Strolled on U of Arizona campus with an O map Cristina sent us a while back. Explored some neat staircases and underpasses and thought it would be great for a sprint... Good to keep track of where we were.

Time and distance estimated, but we were going so slowly I listed it with 0 intensity.

Saguaro Natl Park-West hike on Hugh Norris trail onto the ridge and then back. Lots and lots of stairs made with chunks of cut granite (some approximately 12"x8"x2' or thereabouts). Lots of stairs. No, I didn't count. Warmer; 58-63 and quite sunny.

Valentine's dinner at Noble Hops in Oro Valley north of Tucson. :-) Too much food (including a chocolate mousse for dessert), but the beer was excellent (they don't brew any there, just have an extensive list of drafts (28 this month)).

EDIT: added FR track

C • Too much food 1

Signal Hill at Saguaro Park West to see the petroglyphs.

Hiked up Fay Canyon in West Sedona (AZ). One booklet we'd seen talked about an arch visible once you go up a side trail; we missed it on the way in but found it on the way out of the canyon. Went up-canyon about as far as we could go. Not as much scrambling as yesterday, but still some ups and downs to manage. Beautiful weather; upper 40s to mid 50s and clear blue skies.

Climbs both yesterday and today are probably bogus, as the satellite signal seems to bounce around a lot in the canyons and around big rock features. :-) But there were some climbs both days.

Afterward we headed up Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff, where we stopped for a few minutes at the train station/visitor center, before heading back south and finding our way to Tucson. Had dinner at a Wildflower Bread cafe, a chain which appears to be the Panera alternative in these parts.

One of the things I've noticed here in Arizona is the setting moon is a crescent of the "bottom" of the moon. In NY I think the crescents are usually cupped to the upper left or upper right instead of straight up.

C • Crescent 5

Trail hike to Cathedral Rock saddle in Sedona, Arizona. Some of the climb up to the saddle was pretty hairy (steep) but doable. We puttered around between spires a bit; pretty cool up there. Getting back down was hard on my left knee (some twisting) but I managed without damaging anything, just slowly.

Gorgeous day, and a dozen or so other people out on the trail when we were there, either going up or headed back down. One father with a young boy (about 3 or so?) got him all the way up and back down again. Quite an experience, and a great view. Temps were in the low to mid 40s.

Getting here was an experience, as we were supposed to fly out on Saturday, during the snowstorm/blizzard. Finally took off on Sunday evening, but didn't make our connection so finished the trip Monday morning, and drove up to Sedona around sunset. Very pretty; with a short snow shower partway here. Sedona's at 4500'. There's still snow on some roofs (particularly the north side) and up higher in the hills. Flagstaff, about 50 miles north, is over 6000' (7000'?) and we heard they got 3 feet of snow over the weekend. Good for the skiers, I guess.

Hiked up the Soldiers Pass trail via Devil's Kitchen (or Sinkhole, depending on where you look) and the Seven Sacred Pools (smallish-potholes going down a rock face into a stream bed, though water wasn't flowing today; and I only saw six pools) in Sedona. We didn't go quite far enough to see arches that were supposed to be visible from this trail, but will try to find some tomorrow (up a different trail).

We attempted to get to the Crescent Run area but a $9 charge just to park and walk by a stream seemed a bit pricey so we skipped the Cathedral Rock reflection photo opportunity and continued on the Red Rock Loop Road before heading up to Airport Mesa just before 5 to see if sunset colors were as nice today as the could be. They were nice but not spectacular.