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| Hiking | 12.00 Miles |
2,800 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.00 Miles | 10 Hrs | | 1.50 mph |
| 2,800 ft AEG | 2 Hrs Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The mission was to check out the Table Top Wilderness of the lower Sonoran Desert National Monument.
This quote is a good summation of my short hike in the Table Top Wilderness:
"There are known knowns; there are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know."
Donald Rumsfeld
The day started out with a little hiccup: at 0700 I discovered that the water bladder in my backpack was empty, the water having drained out during the bumpy ride in, with hardly a gurgle remaining. My ride had already driven away, so I was out of luck, and had a long day ahead of me.
Having done a bit of research ahead of time, pouring over the satellite images to answer some unknowns, I was confident that I had the area figured out. The only thing missing was to go there and prove out my assumptions.
Knowing that active smuggling routes are constantly being resupplied and provisioned, especially this close to I-8, I was sure to find some water if I walked the trail and hit the layup sites. Guys on ATVs and on horseback bring in cases of food, water, soda, and energy drinks to the trail system, leaving provisions caches at convenient locations, usually near layup sites and spotter positions.
The first couple of hours of the hike were spent walking the peaks and ridgelines looking for a spotter's roost. The search bore no fruit, finding nothing but empty containers and no sign of recent activity. This setback was nothing to fret over, because I knew of a trail nearby that was sure to be busy and well stocked, or so I thought.
The trail was right where I had penned it on my map; however, things were not as expected. After giving the trail a good looking over, I was dismayed to find that the route had been decommissioned, and was no longer bustling with activity. The trash was old and clothes weather-beaten; I would be hard pressed to find water here.
Finding no fresh footprints to fret about, I had the trail to myself and spent the rest of the day working my way down to the extraction site at I-8, scrounging for things of interest or value. I must have seen over 300 black water jugs along the way, and checked every single one of them for some remnant, some pittance of rancid puke water that I could drink...yet found not a single drop.
It turned out OK in the end, as this time of year one can get by without water, but had it been summer things would have been a bit more serious, and I would have gone about it in a different way.
Well, I learned a few things at Table Top Mountain: to truly know a place, one has to hike it; if a black water jug is found lying on its side, it is empty; and always double-check your water supply before heading into the unknown. |
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