In my last post I mentioned the hike on Camelback Mountain with Arizona Outdoor and Travel Club. On that trail in the steep ascent out of Echo canyon there is a section that is bounded on one side by a towering cliff and the off side has a high mesh fence (so that hikers won’t fall off the cliff). The trail is wide and steep. It is so steep that there are two hand rails (made of iron pipe) to enable ascent and descent. One handrail is next to the fence and the other is in the middle of the trail. The fence (and its handrail) is on the up traffic’s left. On this particular hike (Saturday, July 25), a man was going up along the handrail next to the fence (his left). One of the things I dislike about hiking on Camelback Mountain , my usual Summit trail, or any of the more popular trails in Phoenix is that many people neither know nor practice trail etiquette. This man was staying to the left going up and thus violating the “stay right” rule which was causing problems with people coming down (and staying to the right). The problem was that for them staying to the right was conflicting with the “give those going up the right of way” rule.
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I was going up and had watched 3 or 4 problems occur with this situation. When I had overtaken and was passing the man causing the problems, I violated one of my personal (on trail and off trail) rules. I gave him some unsolicited advice. I suggested that he might have fewer problems if he stayed to the right. I am sure that he had gotten this advice before because his answer was instantaneous. He said:
It doesn’t work that way for me. It just doesn’t work the same for everyone.
Anonymous
I have been thinking about that all week. What happens when the right of an individual (to decide what works for him/her) causes problems with others following rules designed to eliminate conflict? Personally I believe following good trail etiquette makes for a more pleasant hiking experience. Not everyone agrees. Having thought about it for a week I am just as happy that he wasn’t staying to the right. He was moving a lot slower than I was and I would have had to pass him if he had been following “the rules”. While I haven’t made any decisions about the basic question of individual rights vs. problems for the many, I have resolved to follow more closely my own rule about giving advice. Especially the unsolicited variety.
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The following Monday, July 27, I was in Flagstaff and hiked the Elden Lookout Trail #4. Mt. Elden is a lava dome associated with the San Francisco Peaks lava field. It is 2.5 miles from the parking lot at the trail head to the lookout. That is about the same distance as from the start of the Cholla trail to Echo Canyon on Camelback Mountain. The distance is the only thing the two hikes have in common. Camelback tops out at 2,706 feet while Mt. Elden reaches 9299 feet (The sign at the lookout reads 9300, but that is incorrect). The gain in elevation for the Mt. Elden trail is almost a thousand feet more than that of Camelback (2,200 vs. 1,300). The climb up was difficult, sweaty and worth the effort. I blamed the sweat on the high humidity – it had rained the afternoon before – but I suspect my age, the elevation, my condition and the steepness of the trail had more to do with it. As on the previous hike I heard something that gave me food for thought.
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The Elden Lookout Trail #4 intersects the Pipeline trail and the Fatmans Loop trail about 0.9 miles from the trailhead. I was about halfway between the intersection and the trailhead on the way back to my car when I met a group of six people on their way up. The group included a woman with a gorgeous Irish setter. The woman asked me how much farther it was. My reply was: “That depends on where you are headed.” What she said next just floored me.
We don’t know where we are going.
Woman with the Irish setter
Now, who would ask for the distance to an unknown destination? Keeping in mind the resolution made after my Camelback hike, I told her that there was a sign a little farther along the trail giving the answers to her question.
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I was reminded of the Irish setter woman’s question as I read Spong’s Newsletter Thursday morning. It was about The Study of Life, Part 1, A Journey Into the Mystery of Life Begins in the Amazon Rain Forest and somewhat indirectly about his forth coming book on life after death. As Spong so eloquently points out in his column no one knows where (or when) we are going when we die. That doesn’t stop us, like the woman on the trail, from asking:
How much farther?
Woman with the Irish setter
I know that it is farther for some than others. Is it different for everyone or does it work the same for everyone? I especially wonder about people that are happy when false prophets get convicted and go to jail (see my previous post below). But… I haven’t a clue.