On what hike in AZ have you been the most nervous

[JasonCleghorn]

/afraid due to heights or exposure and why? No animal encounters and only non-technical hikes.

This came to mind because I saw the pics for Cheops Pyramid...

[Tough_Boots]

I've had some scary moments but I think the most consistently nervous I've been in AZ was doing a good stretch of Rough Canyon in the dark with MtnBart01. I did not like that. Constant boulder hopping and downclimbing with a headlamp. I just new I was going to slip and break something or turn an ankle somewhere.

If I can say outside of AZ-- Half Dome at night with the wrong kind of gloves was absolutely terrifying for me.

[SuperstitionGuy]

I have never been nervous while hiking or backpacking anywhere but on a few occasions after I got home I would shudder and shake thinking what in the @#$% hell did I do that for?

[cactuscat]

Probably my first time doing the Battleship (Grand Canyon) solo.
Also my first time up Brown's Peak - in the snow - once on top, I was pretty freaked about having to descend what we had just climbed (did I mention snow?).

[Trishness]

Mooney Falls. Travertine + Moisture + Vertigo.

[SpiderLegs]

Seriously, the most nervous was on Big Horn Peak. Did the hike a few days after we had one of our multi-day winter rains. Everything I touched fell off in my hands and every rock I stepped on rolled away. Plus I got walled into a big field of cactus. Finally gave up, turned around and while resting on a big boulder to regain my composure, the boulder gave way. Ended up surfing on top of the boulder for a few seconds. All I can say is that I'm glad I always keep a bottle of liquid band-aid in my pack.

[JasonCleghorn]

@joebartels and @FriendofThundergod @JJ I'd like to hear some of your nominations...

[CannondaleKid]

Ever since going off a mountain on a mountain bike 25 years ago (describing that event could fill a page or two) I have gained a steadily advancing fear of high places and/or exposure. I can no longer walk to within a few feet of a cliff, and if Tracey does walk close to an edge I have to look the other way or I get Gumby-legs.

That said, particularly when hiking solo I tend to have one or more heart-stopping moments on every hike. Just yesterday in the Goldfields on two occasions I stepped on a large boulder that gave way. The first one only slid five feet before stopping. On the second one, if I hadn't been able to push-off at the last moment and grab onto a significantly-rooted jojoba, the 40-feet or so the boulder dropped may have been ended badly.

Picking out a few off the top, visibility was the main issue...
* Brown's Peak: Thankfully we were just starting up the chute when a thick and wet fog moved in, enveloping us in a soup so thick it was all we could do to find our way back down.
* Picketpost Eastern Approach: (Solo) First attempt, within 300 feet of the top the fog got so thick I couldn't see the end of my arm at times.
* Battle Axe Butte: (Solo) In this case it was the opposite for visibility... CAVU (Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited) which allowed me to see just how scary a predicament I got myself into. The ascent was fine as I only saw what was in front of my hands. The descent on the other hand had my heart in my throat at least a dozen times.

So Jason, if you're interested in an experience to jangle your nerves, let me know and if I dig through my archives I can probably to pull up the scariest of the bunch... for me anyway.

[PatrickL]

Almost turned around in the chute the first time I hiked Vulture Peak. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), that's all that comes to mind.

[joebartels]

Ice, spider webs and cold weather are my greatest fears. In the early days of hiking getting lost was scary.

afraid due to heights or exposure

With confidence in the footing or grip it's more exciting than feared. I've been afraid in so many situations it's kind of a blur now.

Not paying attention may benefit. I didn't know to be scared on Cheops until Dave1 turned back, then I was terrified.

[JasonCleghorn]

Ice, spider webs and cold weather are my greatest fears. In the early days of hiking getting lost was scary.

afraid due to heights or exposure

With confidence in the footing or grip it's more exciting than feared. I've been afraid in so many situations it's kind of a blur now.

Not paying attention may benefit. I didn't know to be scared on Cheops until Dave1 turned back, then I was terrified.

It just goes to show how people are different. Spider webs and cold weather, I like! But some of the exposure things you all do I just know are not for me. I will live vicariously through you all. The Cheops pictures are terrifying... And I know enough to know that there are TONS more scary non-technical hikes in CO and other states, etc.

[chumley]

On what hike in AZ have you been the most nervous

I saw a ghost once.

[JasonCleghorn]

On what hike in AZ have you been the most nervous

I saw a ghost once.

Ha. What's your real answer to the post?

This is something that I am fascinated with, what's every person's comfort level, etc. It actually has surprised me some of the things that some have said. I was surprised to hear that Joe has been terrified a lot. It was also interesting to hear about his fear of getting lost, which is something that I rarely even think about. Granted I've gone nowhere so remote as he has, etc. But even if I have or did, I wouldn't worry about that given a map and a compass, etc.

Having said that, I have a theory that people that have fear are the ones that live. The truly 'fearless' adventurers, IMO, i.e. on Everest, etc. are the ones that are dead.

[SuperstitionGuy]

Joe said only that in his early days of hiking that getting lost was scary.
For me it was getting lost that I enjoyed. Off trail and away from the crowds is what I preferred, but being a solo hiker or backpacker does increase significantly the danger factor.
I guess my only fear was falling out of my hammock in the middle of the night!

[azbackpackr]

Getting sniffed by a bear and also hearing a mountain lion screaming both occurred when I was in my sleeping bag in the wilderness, sleeping out under the stars. But I was not actually hiking at the moment. I don't have a huge fear of heights. I'm not afraid of bugs or spiders. I'm not afraid of snakes, just wary that I not step on one.

It kind of creeps me out to hike alone in thick woods after dark. Mountain lions can see a lot better in the dark than I can. So, I just avoid hiking alone in the dark in thick woods.

[Jim]

Keeping in Arizona, hikes only or climbs/ scrambles? Also, seems we're talking afraid, rather than nervous, which is a different emotion.

Scrambles and Climbs:
Morning Glory Spire, didn't make it up the first time, and the last time I was there my shoes were slipping.
Capitol Butte, we turned back the first time and I recall nothing much, just fear at times.
Bell Rock, no way I was leading that and it was scary.

Hikes:
Close lightning on the Peaks in summer, many times, even below treeline. Once saw a bolt strike a tree that was closer than 500 feet from me and lower than my elevation at the time. Close enough that the flash and clap were simultaneous.
Close Lightning on Black Mesa on September 1, 2012. It was super close there, too, with hail, and cold wind driven rain from a storm that did what storms do. My poncho got shredded, and I was hunkered down under a tree with nearly no other protection. I figured, if hit, my corpse would be found months or years later, if at all, out there.
Some of the wind events on the Peaks in winter, especially early on when I was afraid my stuff would be blown into the Inner Basin- while resting on a summit, typically.
Had my crampons off while coming down Agassiz's NW slope and hit a patch of Neve, started an uncontrolled slide but self arrested. It took a lot less to arrest than expected, I recall. I had the crampons off since I was breaking through thin snow on the ridge and I think I was being lazy and had decided to just make a straight line towards the ski slopes.
Some of my hikes on the Rez, when people would subtly threaten me becuase I was "not supposed to be here", and, "could get hurt out here". Always a male in a truck doing it. I would always recommend group travel out there.
Falls, off trail, when rocks moved while moving over them or when I tripped, south ridge of Agassiz in 2010, and my recent fall in September when I thought I may have broken something( for about 15 seconds).
During the Schultz fire I was briefly afraid my car would be trapped up at Lockett Meadow. I knew it wouldn't be damaged, the Feds would burn that area out, but I didn't want to be stuck there during operations. I was 1 or a few hikers who were up there that day. For that matter, any time I moved transverse across the steep and loose slopes of volcanic rock, in the Upper Basin/ Cirque.
Oh, how can I forget, running down a section of the Pusch Peak hike while a nasty swarm of not too aggressive bees was mostly on my hat, but also me.
And I'm sure a multitude of other times I can not recall. Plus, a ton of times out of state, from descending the upper hundred feet or so (the steepest part) of Whitney in February of 2011, to getting off route on Hesperus in 2008, to starting in to avalanche terrain on some peak in CO in early 2012, to the side walk section on Mt Russell, to some parts of Crestone Needle, to being startled by the DSNGRR while sitting by the river eating lunch and having the locomotive suddenly become loud and break my fog. Scared the hell out of me for a second!

[SuperstitionGuy]

And I'm sure a multitude of other times I can not recall.

Why are you still alive?

[Jim]

@SuperstitionGuy
Oh, come now, I'm not saying it was anything dramatic.

[toolcrazy]

In My younger days 3 of Us were rolling rocks down off a plateau over looking Lake Pleasant when I say a nice round rock out on a knob. When I pried the rock loose the knob gave way and so did My feet, the barrel cactus that I grabbed to pull Myself up was a welcome handle. When I looked at My hands there were many red blood spots but I don't remember feeling any pain being thank full that the cactus was there.

[rcorfman]

Not in AZ, but at, I believe at, Lacrosse Lake, Olympic National Park, WA. We finished our day's hike around noon. The lake is in a large bowl and we decided to hike to the rim to see what was on the other side. While climbing up, there were a few bears off to our right across a ravine. There were other bears that we had seen on other parts of the bowl too. When we reached the top, there was no grass because of all the bears hanging out. There was bear hair all over the trees. It was really eerie and after we looked over the edge to the other side, we high-tailed it back to camp.

In AZ, I'd have to say a few of the trails in GCNP have been nerve wracking. One that bothered me was heading from Royal Arch to the River, cliff on one the left, wall on the right, and two feet of air to step across.