Christmas 2009

HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS - CHRISTMAS eve 2009;

I had planned on spending a lazy day cooking and watching movies then turn in early, But my adventurous spirit got the better of me and I grabbed my mountain bike & survival gear (camel

back HAWG) and Lit out for the Huachuca Mountains abt 10 miles away.

It is a tough ride and uphill all the way from my apartment, I managed to make it into the foothills in about 1 1/2 hours. I was battling wind and rain, and I could see that there was a lot of snow coming down in the higher peaks so I made the decision to set up camp in Brown canyon.

It took me a few minutes to set up my cheap walmart tent, then rig my plastic tarp over it for additional protection.I grabbed my gear and threw it into the tent, then it was just a matter of riding out the

weather.

The gear I had on my bike consisted of tent, plastic sheeting, army goretex bivvy bag, slumberjack summer bag, crazy creek chair, my cook set, 4 knives my trusty old Green river knife named "old

butch", my Case hobo, a Swiss army knife with a saw, and my old timer whittling knife.

Type 1 and type 5 nylon(parachute cord's). 1 gallon of water, camera, a light wind suit, extra socks, gloves, beanie cap, ball cap and other misc gear. my food consisted of 3 cans of sardines, instant coffee, sky flake crackers, animal crackers, thai style instant tea, and some candies.

Darkness fell quickly so I crawled into my sleeping bag and settled in for the night. I laid in my sleeping bag listening to the rain hitting my tent and singing Christmas carols to myself.

During the night I could hear several Javalina moving around in the dark and heard the hoot of some owls, I noticed in the morning that a pack rat had stolen the lid to my travel mug.

It turned out to be a rainy, cold and windy night, I stayed in my bag until 1st light then got up to a cloudy Christmas morning.

The time was only about 7 am and since it was not raining I wanted to make some coffee before heading down the mountain. I kindled a small fire from oak and juniper wood using my bic lighter.

sitting in my crazy creek chair I filled my old army canteen cup with water and sat it on the coals to

boil. It was somewhat refreshing to be out in the cold air. I sat there watching wilderness TV(the fire) while the water boiled and munched a few animal crackers for breakfast.

I had done a lot of thinking during the night about Christmases in the past, I came to my own conclusion that it is all and illusion, and created by merchants to sell products. The necessity people feel to buy and celebrate a false holiday never ceases to amaze me.

I would much rather be sitting alone near a small fire in the beautiful mountains then to be in a house full of people I don't really like or get along with, celebrating a false holiday - just my opinion.

By and by the water boiled and I made myself a full canteen cup or Folgers brand(my personal favorite) instant coffee, ate some animal crackers. While dining in regal splendor there in the mountain I decided to stay over another night, I still had a little food and plenty of coffee. The only problem was water but I knew where to get that up the trail.

I packed my gear, then locked my bike and hid it in the woods, cached my tent in another area then headed up the trail. My intention was to go to a spring I knew of and top off my water bottles, do a quick scout around then return to my camp area before dark. As I hiked along I began to see a lot of illegal alien signs, i.e. cast off clothing, candy wrappers, sardine cans etc.

Since I was low on food I made a quick scout around to see if I could locate a "Lay up site" and recover some canned food from the back packs the illegals throw away.

As luck would have it I located a small lay up site and was able to recover 2 cans of re fried beans, and 2 cans of tuna con vertudes (vegetables), a good score!

I stuffed the cans into my pack then continued my hike up to the spring. Upon arrival at the spring i did as planned, topped off all of my water bottles then hid all but 1 of them.

I emptied out my pack and hid the contents of it along with the water bottles. Taking only food, water, and my bivvy sack I headed up the trail to Carr Peak. There was a bit of snow on the ground but the

trail was clear.

Along the way I saw a flock of turkeys (10 i think), they were difficult to count due to their moving

around. I also spotted several Sonoran Coues deer, and saw plenty of javalina and Bear sign.

Since I had left Camp at about 8am I intended to hike 4 to 5 hours up the trail then turn around and head back to camp so that I would have plenty of light to do so.

It was great to be on the trail and seeing all of the different wild life, the temperature was slightly cool

with a biting breeze, I loved it!

I made it all the way to the top of Carr peak 9000 plus feet, but was a little off of my allotted time

schedule.

I decided to run back down the mountain to where I had stashed my water and pack contents. Stripping down to my hoody, shoes and pants, I stuffed my wind suit and other clothes in my pack then began my

jogging decent.

It was a fairly easy jog down the mountain, I got to the gear stash, recovered my gear and water, then walked the remainder of the trail back to camp as a cool down.

My feet were a little sore By the time I got to camp, I left my bike hidden in the woods but recovered my tent , after pitching it and the rain tarp I again kindled a fire to boil water for coffee.

I remembered the cans of food I had recovered and made the choice to eat tuna and crackers for dinner, washed down with stout black coffee - It was a culinary delite! I finished off the meal with some hard candies for desert.

Thinking about it I realized that I was eating an international meal - Mexican style tuna, Filipino crackers, American coffee and Korean candies. Almost like dining in a 5 star restaurant!

Needles to say I was a little tired that night so I took a swig or two from my whisky flask then crawled in to my sleeping bag, I do not remember anything from that night because I slept very soundly.

Early the next morning I got up, mixed instant coffee in my nalgene bottle , drank it cold, packed my gear and headed for home.

It was a good two nights in the woods and great way to spend a "holiday" weekend, I enjoyed it very

much.