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| Hiking | 15.30 Miles |
4,603 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.30 Miles | 12 Hrs 20 Mns | | 1.24 mph |
| 4,603 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Back in early March, I first thought that I was in good enough shape to do The Window hike in a single day, I talked to Susan, a hiking buddy from the Alt-Hiking group, and a plan was hatched. I am slower on the uphill and she is slower on the downhill, so neither one of us could abide by a Speedy-Gonzales-type hiker on this long trek. Unfortunately, when we compared calendars, we couldn't find a date that would work until May.
In April, I talked to a couple of hiking buddies who had done The Window, and they convinced me that it would be best to do it as a shuttle hike. I agree - you gotta love a good loop or shuttle hike so you can see different scenery. I had done the Esperero Trail before to the Bridal Veil Falls before - with its "Cardiac Gap" - and I wondered why we wouldn't do it the other way rather than the way it was written. Why not start at Ventana and end at Sabino? We'd make the hike about 260 feet less of elevation with this simple reverse in direction. I had to talk Susan into the extra couple of miles (with the shuttle rather than the out-and-back), but that didn't turn out to be that difficult - she was game. It was only later that I read JeffMacE's triplog that proclaimed that anyone would be "cheesy" for doing the hike in reverse. I say: if it's easier and you still see the same scenery, bring on the cheese.
We started up Ventana at about 7:30 AM. This section of the trail had quite a few wildflowers still in bloom. Of course, this meant that I needed to take pictures - timing be damned. We had both been to Maiden Pools before, so we decided that would be our first "real" break (as opposed to the fake breaks that I take when snapping photos). The Maiden Pools did turn out to be a little harder to spot when they weren't so full of water. They were kind of slimy, but still had our break there in the shade. It was getting warmer now, and we also required zipping off our pant legs so we could sport our shorts.
Wouldn't you know it - soon after we zipped off our pant legs, we nearly ran into a batch of poison ivy right on the trail. We narrowly escaped this time, but we knew that this would remain a hazard so we kept our eyes peeled for those leaves of three.
The first glimpse of The Window was quite exciting, as was the trail sign for Esperero. That meant that we were close to having lunch at the "best lunch spot in the Catalinas." Several times during the hike we took out the HAZ trip description and tried to figure out where we were in reverse. I wouldn't recommend this action. We should've brought along a copy of the description of the typical directions (via Ventana Canyon) to The Window as well.
When we approached the saddle and could see Biosphere off to our left and the Santa Ritas to our right, we knew we were drawing even closer to the famed lunch spot. The scenery was beautiful, and I had switched gears to my "beer time" pace for the fairly flat areas and slightly uphill while we were on the ridge. Then the trail began to be relentless. "More up?," I whined, prior to the approach to The Window. "Could it be possible that we missed it?," I wondered, since it seemed much longer than 1.2 miles from the junction. Finally, when The Window was in view, Susan let out a scream. We made it! 
I must have a thing for attempting these things in high winds, because it was WINDY up there! I had forgotten my windbreaker, so Susan loaned me one of hers and we proceeded to take photos of each other in The Window. Then we had lunch (and I had my beer!) at what I would call, too, the best lunch spot in the Catalinas. We both called our mothers, too, since it was Mother's Day after all. I found a pair of sunglasses up there and put them in my backpack to return to Lost and Found. Something that I did not expect to see up there was a cigarette butt, but I saw two. And different brands, too! Can you believe that not one, but two disrespectful smokers had made it that far? I stashed these in my backpack as well before we moseyed on our way.
Well, at least I thought I was going to mosey. But there was more up. This is a fantastic ridge hike and I'm so glad that I did it this way, but during this moment I was thinking of how great it would've been to have nothing but downhill in front of you. The Esperero Trail at these higher elevations (above Bridal Veil Falls), was very poorly maintained. It was easy to find the trail, but the trail had lots of downed trees where we had to find a way over, under, or around. There was also a bit of loose gravel and dirt and I managed to fall just once.
It was about this time where my feet began to ache a little and I dreamed about the last time I was at Bridal Veil Falls. In January 2008, the falls weren't rushing, but they were definitely flowing, and with a nice big pool at the bottom. Not nearly so this time. It was barely trickling, but there was a little bit of clear water so I could soak my foot for a minute and take a couple of Ibuprofen. Susan's knee was giving her a hard time, too, and she wrapped it in an ACE bandage before we headed down.
I mentioned this in my photoset and I will mention it again here - there are HUGE cairns and lots of them just below the falls. It's like someone had WAY too much time on their hands. And, just like that, we were back in poison ivy territory. This time, I don't think either one of us made it by without touching them. It's just a wait-and-see exercise to see if our legs develop rashes. (As of posting date, Tuesday evening May 11, I do have significant itching on my calves, but I don't think it is poison ivy. Susan is fine was well.)
Once we got to Cardiac Gap, we were going pretty fast. Susan's knee was hurting and she lost her bandage clip and had to take off the bandage. Nothing was going to stop us now, though - nothing except a couple of shots of the sunset as we made our way out. Again, there were a couple more up-hills on the way back that we wouldn't have had to deal with if we had gone the other way.
We finally made it back to the pavement, and then to the parking lot, and the day was done.  We went and retrieved the other car, and it was time for some Mexican food and margaritas at El Charro at Kolb and Sunrise before heading home. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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| There are just two switchbacks left. And another half-mile to the destination... |
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