Dancing with Cacti

When my husband, Laurence, says, “I think I’ve got this figured out!” this is a good time to head in the opposite direction.

What I’m referring to is going hiking with my husband far enough into the woods or sands that you can’t see a Tim Hortons or an American equivalent. In this case, it was the Douglas Spring hiking trails, just outside of Tucson, Arizona.

Let me back this story up a little, to give you some context. We arrived at our little “tin can” at the Green Valley Arizona RV Park on Saturday. We were too tired to do anything except unpack, pick up a few groceries, and loll around the pool and hot tub.

On Sunday, we were still completely bagged from getting from Sudbury to an author reading in Orillia (late), to our hotel in Toronto, to the airport in the middle of the night, and so on. We napped, picked up a few more supplies including ant killer (a story in itself), lolled around the pool and hot tub and went out for Mexican food. Yee hot!

By Monday, the panic set in on Laur about the amount of marking he had to do, so he holed up in the library at the “club house” (aren’t we upper crust?!) while I tried out the new Jane Fonda workout for the seniors crowd. It is nothing like the one she did in the 80s. Mind you, I’m nothing like I was in the 80s either!

We ended our day with a good lolling in the water, and watching a very silly movie called The Avengers.

By Tuesday, both of us were starting to get twitchy. Here we are in what we consider the most beautiful landscape in the world while the temperature is moderate, and we’re indoors working. (Yes, doing a seniors workout is work for me.)

Laur was still behind on marking, but figured he could take an afternoon if he doubled up on Wednesday. Hooray!

In the morning, while he marked, I tried out the beginner’s part of the DVD “Yoga for Beginners” by Barbara Benagh. How a half plank is a beginner’s pose, I have no idea. Check out http://static.caloriecount.about.com/splash/full/abtwist2.jpg for an example!

Suffice it to say, I’m a pre-beginner, and my Adventures with Yoga story will have to wait until I can actually get through this DVD.

Finally, after lunch, we were ready to go, or as ready as Laur and I ever are. We had water, sunscreen, hats and Saucony running shoes (plus clothes of course.) What more could we possibly need?

It’s only an hour trip from our RV Park to the Douglas Spring trail, but given that we’d both been looking forward to dancing with cacti since Saturday, it seemed much longer. The trail entry was not well marked and there was only one car in the parking lot. Hmm...

Then there was the sign with the usual reminders to beware of cougars, rattlesnakes, poisonous lizards and bees that swarm. And to advise us to carry lots of water, some food, have a hiking partner, and make sure someone knows when you left and when you planned to return.

No worries mate, we were only going to be hiking for an hour and it was only 3 p.m.

Once I got past my very reasonable fear of getting bitten or eaten to death, I was fully enraptured by the numerous species of cacti, the now empty streambeds created by flooding, the vistas of sand and bizarre plants, and them blue, blue skies.

We had not planned to hike up anything – we only had shoes, not boots. But the incline was gradual, at first, so we continued onwards and upwards for about an hour. At that point, we realized we needed to head back. Our water was low, we were hungry, the sun (which sets at about 5:30 p.m.) was starting to race toward the horizon, and we had no flashlight.

But what way to go?

Return back the way we came which we knew was an hour’s hike and we were tuckered, or continue on our way and hope to find a short cut back to our base camp of a rented car.

It was at this point Laurence uttered those words that will eventually be interpreted as “I thought I knew what I was doing.”

He said, “I think I’ve got this figured out!” He continued, “If we continue to climb this peak, the path will then start to turn right and slope right back down to the car.”

Three peaks later, and despite stupendous views of the city of Tucson in the valley, and the Catalina mountains behind it, the trail was not veering right as quickly as I had wanted. Laur did not convey worry — I was doing enough of that already — but he did think that next time it might be good to have hiking boots, a cellphone, food, more water, warm clothes and a tent. ACK!

Finally, finally, we came to a convergence of paths and Laurence was indeed correct. We were on our way back to the car, just not as directly as I would have liked. I kissed the ground when we were at our sign-in point — literally.

I fell and scraped my hand and leg. Glad I didn’t do that atop peak one.

We signed out and it was then I looked at the sheets and realized a number of folks that signed in, didn’t sign out... Hmm...

The car ride home was even longer than the one in. All I could think of was more liquids, a bathroom, a shower and some FOOD — though not necessarily in that order. We went out to eat at Asian Sky — one of my favourite restaurants. Our server made great suggestions and the food was so delicious. We came home and I was in bed sleeping by 8 p.m.

Would I do this hike again, or another similar to it?! Absolutely. But not without a GPS or at least a compass. I trust my husband’s ability to see the big picture when out hiking, and he does have a certain sense of direction, which I most decidedly lack. But I’m a small vista kind of gal — one who wants to be safely in her RV by the time that sun sets and the cougars start to prowl.