It was my birthday which meant that I could do anything I wanted to, of course. I awoke in the morning to just a few hours of sleep as Steven Klunk kept me up until 1am talking. It was cool, though, because we were getting up early and Steve was going to join my dad and me on a trip up Mt. Humphreys. We awoke around 6am for this hike. We got ourselves packed up and then we were on the road, picking up Brian Hays on the way. My dad was driving us up to the mountain. It was going to be a wonderful hike as my two best friends and I were going to climb the only real mountain in Arizona. I was still sore from the previous week as Brian and I just got back from a five day backpack.
We drove toward the mountain on a dirt road. There was so much snow that when we parked we were still a long ways away. We started hiking in the snow, but sooner than later our feet began to sink in, so we had to put on our snowshoes. Steve was getting his first experience with snowshoes climbing Mt. Humphreys on not that easy of a climb. We took our turns leading. Of course, when I took over, Brian Hays immediately told me that I was going the wrong way. It was nice for me as my dad reassured me that I was doing okay. Brian was probably right as the route got really steep, but we never dropped down again like he thought we would so I could have been right, too. Either way, the route was not easy and began to tire Steve out. When we took our first break, he needed it.
As we kept busting our ass up the ridge, which we finally made it to after a long trek, Steve continued to get tired. Soon he was telling me that he couldn’t make it. I saw Steve tired and defeated by a hike before, but if I encouraged him, he got up the guts to keep moving. But this time, we had to take extra breaks for him until when we were over three hours into the climb, he had to stop and turn back. He said the only thing he wanted to do was die.
Pete: What do you want to do Steve?
Steve: Die
I suggested that he should eat something, so he tried some apple. Soon he was choking and coughing until he almost puked it up. I was concerned but upset at the same time as it seemed like a little bit of acting. I knew he was tired, but I did not expect him to be that tired. He said he could find the way down by just following our tracks and he went by himself.
After he left, we regrouped and the hike was lighter, happier, and more enjoyable. Brian and I busted up as we would cap lightly on Steve, “What do you wanna do Brian?” “Die”. Ha ha ha. We busted out of treeline just ten minutes after Steve left. We could see what looked like the top just a few minutes away. In all actuality, it was more than an hour. Soon the snow thinned out until we were able to take off our snowshoes and leave them behind walking only on the volcanic rocks of Mt. Humphreys. The scramble for the top was on and Brian and I came out on top with him just a few feet behind me. We assumed below that point we were staring at a false summit and not the top, but we were pleasantly surprised to discover it was the actual summit. We spent a little bit of time on the summit eating, sightseeing, enjoying, and goofing around until we knew we had to make our way down. Another Humphreys’ route accomplished.
The hike up took us four and a half hours and it was by far the longest trip mileage wise that I took to get up Mt. Humphreys. We scrambled our way down and I began to have problems with my gaiters, which made it annoying to have snow down my boot and a wet foot. The trip down was a good tiring, boring three and a half hours. Right near the car we found Steve crashed out in a dry spot. I was afraid that he was going to be pissed off at me, but he was just glad to be off the mountain. I guess Steve had not acquired the mountain spirit that my dad passed to me and Brian Hays naturally owned.
