I survived!

 

I survived my first trial hike!  We got on the trail at 5:20 pm and finished 16 miles a little after midnight....just under 7 hours!  We hiked the winding 8 mile dirt road down from Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins and then back up...

 

We were shooting for 24 miles, (one more jaunt back down the mountain)... but by the time we reached the top, my body was done and i was ok with that since we had also worked up on the roofs that morning and i hadn't had a lot of sleep the night before...

 

It was a gorgeous night and we encountered quite a few creatures, a couple owls, a little skunk (we gave him a wide berth) and then the creepier things....

*WARNING: DISTURBING IMAGES TO FOLLOW - NOT MY OWN PHOTOS * mostly of the 6 and 8 legged variety...

 

a few tarantulas,

 

a sun spider....

 

and we lost count of all the little scorpions...

 

along with caterpillars, crickets and one big insect that looked like maybe a giant ant or termite... Aha!

 

I found a picture of it!  .... it's a Jerusalem cricket.... quite large and right at home with the rest of the creepy crawlies that give me the heebie jeebies... actually, it's mostly the spiders that skeeve me out... especially the large wolf spider we saw with glowing eyes!  i didn't realize their eyes reflect light like when you catch animals with your headlights at night....

 

      anyhow, i'm chalking the hike up to a success and i'm much more confident and excited to do the Rim to Rim in 10 days!  My brother, his wife and myself are going to accomplish it in less than 12 hours each way, with Lucinda doing the South to North leg with Luke and myself going North to South with him.... yep, that means my crazy brother is doing Rim to Rim TO RIM in under 24 hours....  my leg is about 20 miles (i'd previously thought 24, so yay!) :) and luke is doing a total of about 47 miles!    getting excited!