One of the things I really wanted to do over Spring Break was take the kids on a hike to the Arizona Hot Springs. Eric had been to them the summer before by boat with the Scouts, but luckily (or unluckily as I would come to find out) they are also accessible by hike. It is about a 6.5 mile hike, which would be a new record long hike for my kids.
Since we were going to be visiting hot springs we encountered a few of these warnings:
Comforting.
The weather was nice which boded well for my non-hiking fan Megan.
I'm pretty sure Jackson adds at least an extra mile for himself to every hike we go on with all of his rock climbing.
The hike down to the Colorado River is mostly downhill (which means uphill coming back!) on sandy and rocky terrain.
After a couple of miles we started to see water on the rock walls so we knew we were getting closer to the river. Exciting!
Sade had a few pant problems:
Woo-Hoo! We made it to the Colorado River:
It was serious amounts of cold, but Jackson and Sadie both braved the water:
After you reach the river you only have about another half mile before you reach the hot springs. This part is most decidedly uphill:
And seriously gorgeous:
The cacti were in bloom:
After a few wrong turns, we eventually made it to the springs. My kids were tired but as soon as we entered the springs Megan mentioned that they definitely made the whole hike worth it. And they sure do! They are awesome. Full of little waterfalls and hot pools of water.
The last pool is accessible by this ladder:
Here is where the ill-fated portion of the hike begins. As Eric was relaxing in the pool, as seen here:
I asked him where he put my phone as I wanted to take a picture with it.
Guess where he found it?
Right inside the pocket of his swimming shorts that had been submerged for the past 5 minutes. I'm not a crier but I shed actual tears.
Do you know how much brand new out of contract phones are?
Too much.
I was depressed and couldn't shake it.
Moving along.......As it was getting a bit late in the day we decided to go back a different way than we came as we heard it was somewhat shorter, albeit slightly more challenging. As we started out Jackson (who truly very rarely complains about anything), started complaining about his stomach/hip area hurting. Right where his appendix is located. We had no other choice but to hike on, but it was seriously hurting him.
Eventually we came to a fork in the trail. We took what we now know was the correct fork, however when we got to the end we discovered we would have to traverse a number of dry waterfalls, which would have been nearly impossible for little Sade. So we hiked back out to take the other fork in the trail.
Did I mention that it was now dark?
And only continued to get darker:
By an amazing sense of foresight on Eric's part, he had stuck two headlamps in the pack. Although it was a nearly full moon, traversing the mountain would have been a lot harder and a lot more dangerous without those lamps:
We walked, and walked, and walked and walked. Eric and I knew that we would eventually reach the freeway, but the kids were worried. Jackson (who was already broken down from pain), broke down from fright at one point and exclaimed, "We are in the middle of nowhere! There is nothing here!"
Happily about two minutes after the breakdown we spotted car lights in the distance. (A really far away distance.)
So we soldiered on. Eventually, and I use that term to mean hours later, we made it to the freeway. Our car was parked at mile marker 4, and we were between mile markers 5 and 6. Knowing we were now only a mile and a half away, I began to be hopeful we would not have to spend the night in the desert.
So we walked. On the freeway. In the dark (with our headlamps) for a mile and half. And NOT ONE PERSON STOPPED TO MAKE SURE WE WERE OK. OR AT THE VERY LEAST ALERTED THE POLICE THAT A FAMILY OF FIVE WAS WALKING ON THE FREEWAY, IN THE DARK. I cannot imagine this is a normal occurrence.
Other woe is me (besides the phone, Jackson's side issue, hiking in the dark (uphill), walking on the freeway) things that happened:
We ran out of water.
Megan hit herself in the head with a walking stick.
Sadie kicked Megan (ON PURPOSE) in the back on the legs.
I lost a shoe at the Subway in Boulder City.
We finally (happily) made it back to the car to discover it was 9 pm. What should have been a 6.5 mile hike ended up being over 10 miles. BUT WE MADE IT!
Now that a week has passed, I can also reflect on some of the positive:
Sade was awesome. We carried her maybe one or two miles on the way back, but she hiked the rest of the way on her own:
Jackson fully recovered from his mystery faux appendicitis.
I recovered my missing shoe from Subway later in the week.
I lost an entire pound!!! And haven't gained it back.
AND......My phone was able to be fixed!! For just $100 Desert Wireless had it fixed in 2 hours! Seriously. If you break your phone, take it there. They are great.
And the most positive thing is that we have this hiking memory to reflect on and laugh about (now that my phone is fixed) for the rest of our lives.
It's awesome.
Comforting.
The weather was nice which boded well for my non-hiking fan Megan.
I'm pretty sure Jackson adds at least an extra mile for himself to every hike we go on with all of his rock climbing.
The hike down to the Colorado River is mostly downhill (which means uphill coming back!) on sandy and rocky terrain.
After a couple of miles we started to see water on the rock walls so we knew we were getting closer to the river. Exciting!
Sade had a few pant problems:
Woo-Hoo! We made it to the Colorado River:
It was serious amounts of cold, but Jackson and Sadie both braved the water:
After you reach the river you only have about another half mile before you reach the hot springs. This part is most decidedly uphill:
And seriously gorgeous:
The cacti were in bloom:
After a few wrong turns, we eventually made it to the springs. My kids were tired but as soon as we entered the springs Megan mentioned that they definitely made the whole hike worth it. And they sure do! They are awesome. Full of little waterfalls and hot pools of water.
The last pool is accessible by this ladder:
Here is where the ill-fated portion of the hike begins. As Eric was relaxing in the pool, as seen here:
I asked him where he put my phone as I wanted to take a picture with it.
Guess where he found it?
Right inside the pocket of his swimming shorts that had been submerged for the past 5 minutes. I'm not a crier but I shed actual tears.
Do you know how much brand new out of contract phones are?
Too much.
I was depressed and couldn't shake it.
Moving along.......As it was getting a bit late in the day we decided to go back a different way than we came as we heard it was somewhat shorter, albeit slightly more challenging. As we started out Jackson (who truly very rarely complains about anything), started complaining about his stomach/hip area hurting. Right where his appendix is located. We had no other choice but to hike on, but it was seriously hurting him.
Eventually we came to a fork in the trail. We took what we now know was the correct fork, however when we got to the end we discovered we would have to traverse a number of dry waterfalls, which would have been nearly impossible for little Sade. So we hiked back out to take the other fork in the trail.
Did I mention that it was now dark?
And only continued to get darker:
By an amazing sense of foresight on Eric's part, he had stuck two headlamps in the pack. Although it was a nearly full moon, traversing the mountain would have been a lot harder and a lot more dangerous without those lamps:
We walked, and walked, and walked and walked. Eric and I knew that we would eventually reach the freeway, but the kids were worried. Jackson (who was already broken down from pain), broke down from fright at one point and exclaimed, "We are in the middle of nowhere! There is nothing here!"
Happily about two minutes after the breakdown we spotted car lights in the distance. (A really far away distance.)
So we soldiered on. Eventually, and I use that term to mean hours later, we made it to the freeway. Our car was parked at mile marker 4, and we were between mile markers 5 and 6. Knowing we were now only a mile and a half away, I began to be hopeful we would not have to spend the night in the desert.
So we walked. On the freeway. In the dark (with our headlamps) for a mile and half. And NOT ONE PERSON STOPPED TO MAKE SURE WE WERE OK. OR AT THE VERY LEAST ALERTED THE POLICE THAT A FAMILY OF FIVE WAS WALKING ON THE FREEWAY, IN THE DARK. I cannot imagine this is a normal occurrence.
Other woe is me (besides the phone, Jackson's side issue, hiking in the dark (uphill), walking on the freeway) things that happened:
We ran out of water.
Megan hit herself in the head with a walking stick.
Sadie kicked Megan (ON PURPOSE) in the back on the legs.
I lost a shoe at the Subway in Boulder City.
We finally (happily) made it back to the car to discover it was 9 pm. What should have been a 6.5 mile hike ended up being over 10 miles. BUT WE MADE IT!
Now that a week has passed, I can also reflect on some of the positive:
Sade was awesome. We carried her maybe one or two miles on the way back, but she hiked the rest of the way on her own:
Jackson fully recovered from his mystery faux appendicitis.
I recovered my missing shoe from Subway later in the week.
I lost an entire pound!!! And haven't gained it back.
AND......My phone was able to be fixed!! For just $100 Desert Wireless had it fixed in 2 hours! Seriously. If you break your phone, take it there. They are great.
And the most positive thing is that we have this hiking memory to reflect on and laugh about (now that my phone is fixed) for the rest of our lives.
It's awesome.
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