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| Hiking | 1.80 Miles |
140 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.80 Miles | | | |
| 140 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | San Simon Valley:
August 15th: I'm not having a good week. I have off this week and was supposed to go to TX with a herping group, but long story short, it got canceled. Oh kay, no big deal, I'll go to San Simon Valley. I had some problems on the way there. My jelly opened up in my suitcase and got all over my stuff. It wasn't actually that bad, but it was an omen. My back started to hurt a lot when I go to Portal, so I opted not to hike. I discovered that all the campgrounds were closed too, probably due to a flood, but they looked fine to me.
I went road cruising and saw someone else looking for snakes too. He told me he saw 60 snakes so far tonight. I honestly did not believe him, partly because it was early 7:30pm, partly because he was overly excited about seeing a dead black-tailed rattler, and mostly because he was from California. Nonetheless, there are a LOT of snakes here.
I hit the roads and ended up seeing 10 snakes, all rattlers. I was hoping to see more non-venomous snakes, but that didn't happen.
The next day, my ankle was killing me, which was odd, because I wasn't hiking. My back was sore, too. I discovered that I had a low tire. I went to change it but my rental car did not come with a jack.  I called Roadside Assistance; they told me that I had to pay them for another vehicle and that it would take a minimum of 4 hours (which is really 6 to 7 hours). After I explained that it was not my fault that there was no jack in the car, they then stated that they would probably not charge me. I wasn't satisfied with that answer either, since I've dealt with greedy rental car corporations before, so I decided to return home after one night fix the tire on Discount Tire. I'll be back tho.
Meridian Trail:
The next day, I hiked Meridian Trail. First I uploaded my photos on my computer, BUT for some reason, my photos would not upload unless I lock my memory card. I didn't think much of it when I did that, so off I went to Meridian Trail.
I was going to bike it but my bike got a flat (again with these flats). Meridian Trail was rockin' with 90 degrees temps and a plethora of wildlife. Unfortunately, I was not rockin'. My ankle was killing me for the first 2 miles, along with my back. After 2 miles, my ankle and back were much better, as if they were not injured at all. How does that work? 
Anyway, after the first mile, I saw an adult longnosed snake. It kissed me when I pick it up, which people usually mistake for a bite. When I was handling this fella, I saw a baby longnosed snake a few feet away. Sweet!  The adult was a red phase and the baby was a yellow phase, which made it even sweeter. What wasn't sweet was the fact that my camera was not working. I couldn't figure it out, so I let the snakes go with no photo.  It would have been a great photo too. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
After the 2nd mile, I saw my 20th coyote of the year.  This is weird because I don't even look for coyotes. The coyote was about 100ft away and on the trail and running in circles. It would have been easy to shoot, but the shot would not have been that great anyway.
After seeing the coyote, my ankle and back felt better and still feels better. Also, I forgot to mention, I didn't have any water because both of my camelback bladders broke right before I left the home. 
I then saw a baby coachwhip on the return to the car. I was also seeing baby coachwhips dead on the road, so they are out in abundance now. Well, at least they were until they got run over.
When I returned home, I discovered what was wrong with my camera. Since my memory card was locked, it prevented me from take photos. My other camera did not do that. Lesson learned. I prefer to learn my lessons from other people's mistakes and not my own.
Conclusion: Always take an extra memory card or camera, always hike on a sore ankle because it can magically get better during the hike, and check your rental car to see if it contains a jack. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
I did hear a bald eagle screeching in the distance. Probably a cold winter day would be best to see them. Instead, I saw a few song birds, more coots than you can shoot, western grebes in large numbers.
. (2) getting sand in my lens obstructing the mechanics, thus I have to use manual focus all the time now.
It was the 2nd largest gopher snake that I've ever seen, and I saw it at 9L PEAK!!!
