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Humphrey’s peak this weekend. It was fabulous. Or, there are few words to describe it, and my vocabulary is far too limited to come with anything truly creative for it. Maybe slim could do it.

So, camped out on friday at the trailhead (literally we noticed after awhile cos there were people walking past the tent all night) and started around seven. The trail only rises about 3 and a half thousand feet, but I definitely felt it a little bit, cos it’s from 9000 to 12600 and the first mile I was pretty short of breath. Or maybe it was just a regular 7am warm-up exhaustion, but as usual that went away pretty soon.

(By the way, cindy´s sleeping bag is pretty good; sleeping with warm clothes on it’ll even go below 32 degrees. Nothing like Steve’s $800 “I don’t even need a ground pad” sleeping bag for 40 below though..)

Either way, it was warm and snug sleeping between Steve and Conor in a 3-people tent.. I swear, I don’t know how they actually measure those things. But hey, we were three people IN there, so I guess they are accurate however snug those tents. Steve told us he’d calculated that he’d spent a full 2,5 year’s worth of nights in that tent. He got it when he was 17. Pretty good, I’d say.

So, the trail starts out with the aspen’s you see on every picture from up there. Unfortunately they had already dropped their leaves, so they weren’t all yellow and purty, but the bark of the trees was still yellow. That was a surprise to me, I didn’t know that. The aspen bark back home is more greenish I think. It was fabulous to smell leafy trees again! I didn’t realize how much I’d missed that smell. It’s funny what you end up missing from home, and whether you even realize that you’re missing it. From the summit we were looking down at this valley full of aspens, and conor said that they are really one big organism, where every aspen shrub has been spawned by the same tree. Isn’t that amazing! I said it reminds of when Dad has me cut off the fresh aspens in the yard of our cabin every spring. Owie on the back, I tell you!

Most of the trail is in the trees, but when we got above the tree line there was a really hefty wind, I pretty much wore every piece of clothing I’d brought with me. But hey, there is no bad weather only bad clothing is very true, I was warm and cozy and really enjoyed it. Every step of the way, I can honestly say. Am I a good hiker now? Hitner told us once that good hikers are not good because they are trying to get somewhere, but because they are having a good time getting there. Same thing goes for painters. I think I am getting closer to be a truly good hiker (hey, I really like getting to the top too!!) but for painting I am maybe not there yet, but on the way I think.

At the summit there was no wind at all and I got this idea of setting up a pottery wheel up there and just throwing and throwing and throwing. It would be awesome. Then lining up all the pots at the top of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Arizona. Fuckin’ eh!

On the way back from Flagstaff we stopped at this place called Arcosanti that Conor knew of. It is an architectural village where they are building this huge dome and tower. People can retreat there for meetings and stuff and they organize work shops for students. I should try to get to go there sometime cos one guy told us he’ll be there for 5 weeks and help out with things, not only artistic but practical. I like the sound of that. Fucking visa I have though with the 2-year deal. They serve dinner there at six, and you get to eat this delicious, healthy grub for 8 bucks, as much as you want! I’m so glad Conor took us there, and the dinner (buffet type) allowed him to eat as much as he could handle too. Great stuff, Italian style.

We got to Tucson around ten and I was so tired I couldn’t even handle a hot tub, however sweet that sounded after our long hike. I haven’t even unpacked, which I should probably do soon before smell starts to appear, hehe. I’m afraid to go out this morning though, because I don’t wanna realize that I’m back in Toasty Tucson. Fuck. It was sooo nice being up in the snow. Thank god I’m going to Juneau and Yellowstone soon!