Mount Humphreys

Last week a couple girls from my class went and hiked Mount Humphreys in northern Arizona. They had an open invitation to go with them, but I didn't think it through in time. After they posted some pictures I decided I really wanted to hike it! It ended up being just me and one other person from my ward, and we left Mesa at 4:00am on Friday and drove the 3 hours up to Flagstaff and started at the trail head at about 7:20am.

The night before I was literally just praying that I wouldn't get sick from the elevation. I knew this would be the highest I'd ever hiked before, so I was a little worried with how my body would react. Luckily I didn't get any crazy side effects, besides feeling a little lightheaded close to the summit, a total lack of energy, and a bit of a headache. Nothing that was going to stop me from hitting the summit!

We also got a little lost of the way up...we missed the trail at one point and were literally scrambling down and up some pretty steep spots. We knew it wasn't the trail, but we couldn't see it!! This gave us about a 45 minute detour, and luckily we ended up connecting to the trail again. On the way down we couldn't quite figure out how we had lost the trail. Oh well! It added to our time but luckily we were able to keep going!

Once we hit the saddle, I was amazed at the views!! It was so beautiful up there! I didn't think the summit would be too crazy of a journey after that, but that's when it got pretty difficult and when we had more trouble with the elevation. Again, luckily nothing too bad but it definitely didn't feel normal. My gatorade helped a lot, and we had to stop before the summit to eat our lunch because our energy levels were lacking. But that helped give us the boost to push to the top and summit at the highest point in Arizona!!

We got back down to the bottom with a total of about 8 1/2 hours of hiking. It took quite a bit longer than I thought it would initially, but once we finished I was just grateful that 1) we had made it to the top and 2) no one got hurt! My hiking boots were the best investment I think I've ever made haha. They have saved my ankles countless times already since I bought them back in February - I get nervous when I hike because I've hurt my ankles so many times. So this is a great accomplishment to not get hurt at all. We then made the drive back to Mesa.

It was a really long day, but it felt so good to cross this off of my AZ bucket list and to get a challenging hike in!!

Trail head.

I was loving all of the leaves everywhere!!

There was some fun color pops with the trees from our vantage points.

This tree on the left may or may not have saved me from falling down the mountain...

Up at the saddle.

Grateful I had a hiking buddy! We originally had 6 people interested in coming, but it turned into just the 2 of us by that morning. 

At the summit and so happy!! Seriously had a hikers high. Endorphins rock.

So pretty.

At the bottom again. Made it!

A perk of going up north...Flagstaff had trees that change colors. SO HAPPY.

My calves and butt are quite sore, but aside from being tired I feel pretty good after that hike! It was great to have a day away from school. Now I feel pretty behind though, so there won't be any big adventures again probably until after finals are over. But then I'll get a whole week off for Thanksgiving and life will be GRAND. :)