Saturday, December 16, 2023
I did the South Rim Trail, approached it from Laguna Meadows Trail and returned via Boot Canyon and Pinnacles Trail. I was going to do it out and back via the same route, Pinnacles to Boot Canyon, but the woman in the visitor center suggested the way I went, telling me it was less steep and a beautiful view. Less steep? Technically, probably so, but it was still a workout with lots of switchbacks. It seemed never ending at times. But it was not overly strenuous. I began at 11:15 AM. I crested the climb into the meadow, if that’s what they want to call it, at 12:38, reached the Blue Creek Trail junction at 12:50, and the Colima Trail junction at 1:09. According to the map, that is at 4.2 miles. It is another 2.0 miles to the Boot Canyon Trail with some of it on the rim, some of it away from the rim. There is one section if rim right after Colima, but the real views are closer to the end of this section, around the 5.6 mile mark. There, one can walk to cliff edge and look out over the lower mountains. It’s quite amazing scenery. I took a lot of photos. I met a couple walking away from this cliff edge section as I approached it. They said it was fantastic, not to be missed.
There were three guys farther along, sitting on the cliff edge at the South Rim/Boot Canyon Trail junction. I took their photo for them, then continued. It was 2:30. Oh, they mentioned that they had come up Boot Canyon and there was a mama bear and cub sitting right by the trail near some spring. I said ok, thanks, hoping of course they would either be gone and easily passed by when I arrived at that point. I started down the Boot Canyon Trail, with it always in my mind to some degree, watch out for bears. Boot Canyon turned out to be a very narrow canyon, much to my surprise, very different than the hike had been so far. I was concerned that, if I came upon bears, there was nowhere to go. I walked for about 30 minutes. I came upon the couple from earlier. They, Stephen and Rachel, told me there were two bears on the trail ahead, a mom and a cub, and they were waiting it out, hoping they would move soon. The bears were about 100 yards up the trail, around a bend. I could not see them.
I don’t know how long they had been there, but I figured it had to be at least 15-20 minutes, based on my site-seeing and my taking the photos of the guys at the cliff. I decided to wait with them. In a short time, maybe ten minutes, another guy, Cody, joined us. He wanted to see the bears and take pictures. He reminded me of how Richie would be! So, he did that. He walked a way up the trail, then came back, saying he had photos and a movie. I said to the three of them, I think we have three choices. One, we wait and see if they move. Two, we make noise and hope that moves them off. Or three, we turn around and walk back the way we came, which at this point meant an eight mile hike back. It was about 3:15 at this point, with sunset at 5:50. We would need about four hours to hike back the way we came, so at least one hour of that would be in the dark. I did have my bike light with me. I never dreamed I would need it! I had figured I would be back at Chisos by 5:15 at the latest.
We opted to make noise. Cody had a whistle he blew on. The other three of use yelled, talked loud, and we started up the trail. When we turned the corner, the bears had moved. As we came closer, we could see they had climbed up a short way, on the far side of the canyon, maybe 50 feet away, up a remarkable steep, ledge-lined, rocky wall. I had my pepper spray, and I had it out just in case, waiting for the others to pass. It all worked out. We all slipped past the spot and breathed a sigh of relief.
The crisis was over. I was so nervous that I did not stop to take a photo. I did not want a bear chasing me! I don’t know if I thought of it at the time, but we still had 4.5 miles to hike. If a bear came after us, what would we do?
We talked about a number of things on the way back, including Sedona and Vortexes, Christianity, and Psychedelics. I think Rachel and Stephen are solid Christians, and I could see “deer in the headlights” eyes in them when I mentioned acceptance of all religions, that there was underlying truth in all, that people sincerely believed in their beliefs, good heartedly. I felt like maybe not a good thing to bring up here, but I had done so … why is it that people from other religions cannot accept other people’s heartfelt beliefs?
The subject seemed to get changed quick, rather than continue. The conversation paused as a couple of people passed up going downhill faster than us, and as we started walking again, Stephen changed the subject. Cody was open minded about it all.
They were not hiking as fast as I would have, and yet Rachel was leading a pretty good pace, and I decided it might be nice to socialize and talk with them and Cody. She and Stephen seemed fit. I’d say they were in their late 20s or early 30s. I think Cody maybe mid-20s. He seemed pretty fit too, though he said his legs were feeling it. We all had done the same Laguna Trail hike, except Cody had added 2.4 miles to do the East Rim as well.
We ended up back at the Basin around 5:45, right around sunset. I gave them my contact info, my travel card. I also gave them my phone number so they could send any photos they had of the bear, as well as a group photo we did at The Pinnacles.
It was becoming chilly, too, now 48 degrees according to my van. It took me 75 minutes to drive back to the campground. I don’t feel like making a hot dinner. I had some granola and an energy drink. I’ll have something more, then go to sleep. It is now 8:30.
I felt great about that hike. It kind of tired me out, I mean, it was 13 miles. I have 30K steps registered. But the incident with the bear exhausted me mentally and emotionally. I feel exhausted.
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