HUMPHREYS PEAK ARIZONA
3 false summits?

It seemed more like 4. This was the first of 42 hps I've scored that needed a repeat try. The scheduled AZ08 "managed hikes" for our day was in a bad weather scenario. Monsoon stuff. Yo! I opted out at the 11,400 ft. marker since I wanted pics on top, having missed photo ops on Wheeler a week before - not a Cedar Point Amusement Park experience. None of our late-start team (745A) made it. The leader and determined 'Ruth' got partway into the saddle when she, spooked by close-by thunder, decided against being electrocuted far from Seattle.

To become psyched and prepared, I like doing research prior to attempting any iffy goal, but I failed doing my best homework on this one. None of the popular hp guide books made mention of multiple false summits and rock scrambling over a gnarly basalt rockslide, a resultant characteristic of this one-time-volcano state high point, with summit non-trails at times.

The second attempt went much better on a better day. Great views for pictures all the way and on summit, but a tad too much sunny-Sunday traffic, amounting to mostly capless twen-tish hikers (NAU?) in t-shirts, shorts, sneakers, maybe a water bottle. They roared past us coming and going. And dogs, dogs, dogs. What's w/the dogs on these western peaks, anyway? Stepping narrowly aside for hikers/pooches broke our own momentum. The trail was challenging enough.

Distance: aprx 9 mi rt. Total time: 10 1/2 hrs incl 45min on top. Not bad for 2 old guys, me and Tucson Bob climbin' with his new "On Sale" $20 Walmart boots, original-issue Air Force cotton OD pants, WWII canteen/web belt, and curtain rod hiking pole. No wonder others couldn't wait to pass. Both coming and going.

Note: Bob's curtain rod did come in handy for draping our bedsheet summit banner w/felt marker lettering. Coo-wel, right? And, I confess to afterward leaving it rolled up in the log box for other's use. So, sue me! Otherwise, there's no summit marker there but several trail signs below. Huh? What's w/the USFS anyway? They sound like incomp dolts to us, speaking for The Trek Stop staff. Why make enjoying the outdoor experience almost as complicated as brain surgery?

Please put the friggin' engraved, rustic, wooden Humphreys Peak summit marker BACK!!! Jeeeze.... And, after that, get a life - like turning back ill-equipped hikers from doing that mountain at all in uncertain weather.

Links: Google Humphreys Peak AZ for lots of info. And, don't miss the important parts.