What we hiked, yesterday we drove
today. From Lake Roosevelt, we took the El Oso road up to 5,500 ft.
On the way up, we met the usual insane idiots trying to drive down
the road in the most dangerous fashion possible. On the same trip a
few days back, when Kadizzle took the crew up a simple minded fool
came down the road with reckless abandon. Kadizzle expected to see
him over a cliff on the way back. Today another one of these goofs
was trying to set a new speed record coming down.
Let's put this road in perspective.
This is a very narrow, steep, one lane road that always has a cliff
on one side. The road winds for 11 miles, and climbs as quickly as
it can. There are turns on this road so sharp that our truck cannot
make the turn. To make the turn, you have to back up at a switch
back. It is impossible for two vehicles to pass on most of the road.
Almost every curve is a blind curve. Why anyone would drive too
fast on this road is a mystery. Of all the roads we drive in the
back country, this is one of the most dangerous.
Reaching the top of the mountain, we
headed west along the ridge with the Tundra. When the road
deteriorated enough we stopped to unload the Yamaha and continue. A
group of ATV people was right where we unloaded. As we unloaded, we
exchanged pleasantries, and they mentioned a woman that had walked by
earlier. The woman said she had walked from the bottom of the
mountain. This would be quite a feat. Before long, traveling west,
we came across a cairn in the middle of the road about two feet high.
This is not something you usually see. Not long afterwards, we
encountered Lisa hiking at a very fast pace down the mountain ridge
road. This is a road rarely traveled. Lisa indicated she had
constructed the cairn so her friend could find her. Lisa confirmed
that indeed she had hiked from the bottom starting at 9 A.M. To
make it up 3,000 ft and out 12 miles that quickly takes some doing,
but obviously she had done it. The Commander and Kadizzle were a bit
concerned about someone hiking as fast as they could and totally
clueless about where they were going. Lisa asked if we had seen a
silver Toyota as we came up the mountain. We informed Lisa that
indeed we had seen a guy shooting his pistol near the start of the
road with a silver Toyota. Lisa said this guy would come get her.
How would he find her, when she did not even know where she was?
Apparently, this had not occurred to Lisa. The Kadizzilites inquired
if Lisa had anyway to get in touch with her rescuer. No she said,
but she had water, an emergency blanket, and food.
There are many trails and roads on the
top of that mountain. Finding someone hiking around at random would
not be an easy task, so we offered Lisa the use of our phone. Lisa
left a message for her partner, telling him the Forest Service road
number she was on. The whole thing had the feel that Lisa had a
disagreement with said friend and took off. After offering
assistance, and the use of our phone, we took off for a very nice
cycle ride along the ridge west of the Four Peaks on a road section
of the Arizona Trail. We did not go far before we stopped for
lunch. Shortly, Lisa came barreling along. Lunch was over, and we
took off west again. Soon we met Lisa for the third time, apparently
some kind of common sense kicked in, and she was headed in the right
direction back where she came from. Both the Kadizzles were
concerned that this was ultimately going to lead to some search and
rescue. Worst case scenario, at this point, was that we would meet
her on the way back. We were the only people on that road today.
Sure enough on the way back, Lisa was
wandering around and her truck friend was standing by the truck. The
Commander said he had an evil look and could have played the role of
a Gestapo guy. Of course our imaginations ran wild. Why were they
there, and why was she just walking around. We surmise he was going
to shoot her, but we ruined it by showing up.
When we stopped to check the cycle they
passed us and we followed them down the mountain, so Lisa was still
alive at 4:30 and the mystery continues.
No comments:
Post a Comment