My Hike

This morning I hiked the Bog Springs Trail in Madera Canyon which is located in part of the Coronado National Forest in the Santa Rita Mountains.

I've never been on a real hike before. Well...not since I was a Girl Scout and I don't remember going out when the temperature was 93 degrees and in the mountains. Granted, we were at 5000 feet (we live at 3000) so the actual temperature had to be cooler, but as you can see from the picture, we were hiking in the sun, so we were feeling the heat.

I only brought one bottle of water with me on the hike. Huge mistake. I was taking small sips to ration it, but what I needed was gulps.

I definitely dehydrated. Here you don't sweat when it's hot because the humidity is so low that anytime you perspire, it evaporates immediately. So you can't tell when you're drying out. There are multiple signs. But if you're thirsty, it's too late. You need fluids as soon as possible.

That is not only bad for everyone, it's especially bad for me because of my kidney disease. So I had to immediately drink as much as I could when I got home. I've been chugging water ever since.

The trail was really rocky and a little steep as you can see from the picture with Chris leading the way.

I told Chris at one point when it got really steep and I saw what was ahead that I knew I was going to have a hard time making it down the incline and the ledges on the way back. So the five of us turned around there and came back.

Chris had two hiking sticks and gave me one to help me on the way down. Going up was a lot easier than coming down. I constantly had the feeling I was going to fall face first and it would plant itself as the newest fossil. The stick really made a huge difference.

It was, to say the least, an experience, since all I was expecting when I signed up to go to Madera Canyon was a walk on a nature trail to take some photos and a picnic. All I could do was concentrate on my feet, so there weren't many photos taken, even though the surroundings were magnificent!

I will be going back some day in the not so distant future because the mountains "rock"!