A Comparative Walk in the Park....

[evenstar]

Those of us starting the WFW from the bottom, Randy, Patty, Patty's son, Chris, Cristiana and I arrived at Call of the Canyon much later than I had planned. I had hoped to leave the campsite at Fort Tuthill no more than 1-1/2 hours after those coming down from the top left, but instead of 7:30, it was closer to 9:00. But, as it turned out, didn't really matter.
The others hike a slower pace than I, so I took off by myself hoping to meet the top-downers as they came out. Reached the "Must wade or go back" spot around 11:00. Took off boots and socks, put on Tevas and waded......nothing over upper thigh and cool, far from the icy stuff the top-downers had to swim in. Not sure of the distance 'cause the wading and inching along dry rock areas was slow. Finally came out of the creek and climbed up into a wooded area where I stopped and had lunch, dried my feet and put boots back on; kept calling "Give me a callback!" on the FSR radio, but no response. Continued on a dim trail that eventually turned into a narrow dirt ledge with some mini-bouldering about 50 feet above the creek and that's where my better judgement and being chicken stopped me. Found a tree to lean against while continueing to call on the radio; figured I was up high enough that I should have at least gotten some static back, but still nothing and since it was 1:00 and they had been on the trail for nearly six hours I was starting to worry. Also, where I'd stopped for lunch was far enough back from the creek I was concerned they might have passed under me still wading in the creek so I decided to head back and meet Randy et.al. Trail I intersected coming out of the creek led me back quite a bit farther before I had to climb down, don sandals and wade again. Was well past putting boots back on before I started getting a response from Cristiana to whom I'd given my other radio. Found them and started back toward Call of the Canyon, looking for some sun to warm up in. Finally, figuring there would be fifteen of us trying to fit into Todd's Goatmobile and Randy's Honda, Randy took the others back to camp cutting those needing the final ride down to the ten top-downers plus Randy and me. I hiked back out to the "Must wade or turn back" mark still calling on the radio and still getting no response, but wasn't gonna get wet again. It was about 3:30 and decided I'd better head back to Call of the Canyon before it started getting dark. Kept calling on the radio and still getting no response right up to the time I spotted Kent, Diane and Tony as they approached Call of the Canyon. Found out later that Todd had drowned his radio and Kent's was in his pack.
Would love to do this again....from the bottom of course Only suggestion from my end would be longer range radios with some water resistance; think I was close to six miles out at 1:00 and could have made contact. Would really liked to have met the "AZHikers.com swim team" and hiked that last few miles with them.
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John Richardson and Richie Rich, El Perro de Playero
http://members.tripod.com/~evenstar/index.html
http://www.arizonahikers.com
When the Man waked up he said, "What is Wild Dog doing here?" And the Woman said, "His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting."
--Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902

[ck1]

Believe me Hooli, we would have liked to of met you and hiked out with you as well.
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-Colin

"The Journey is the Destination"