An Almost Two Year Old, 7 Month Prego Wife, and A Man With Weak Ankles

The above title is the perfect recipe for a disastrous, yet somewhat fulfilling mountain hike.

I had this great idea to get our "end-of-summer" fever out and go up to one of my old favorite high-school places, Big Toe. Now, if you're from the Thatcher/Safford area and you haven't heard of this place, there's probably a reason: it's SO DANG HARD TO GET TO!

I called up Kerrie Graham, (she was always the expert on Big Toe) and I asked her to remind me where it is. "It's just before The Wall, on the left, right after the first cattle guard." Well, Ari, Jax, and I packed up and tried to find the location. We passed it two or three times before we realized what we were actually passing was a trail. (It had been long over grown, and grass was almost knee high covering it up. . .maybe a hint for us, you think?)

We thought we had everything we needed. Packed a nice picnic lunch, two jugs of water, camera, keys, cell, wallet (you'll see why this is important later. . ) and we headed out on the trail. (I ran halfway up the trail first to search for the cattle guard thing that let me know it was the right spot.) Came back, told Ari we were a go, and we were off! If you plan to do this one day take into consideration it might take more than an hour to get there, and bringing t-shirts, or some kind of skin coverage would be optimal, especially on a friggin' hot July summer afernoon. (Yes, we just might be that dumb:)

The first catastrophe was right at the beginning of the trail, just before the creek. We were descending down, and carrying an almost thirty pound kid makes it pretty hard to balance. I rolled my ankle right off the bat. I was so disappointed but decided to man-up and walk through the pain. We went slow but steady and the 10:45 am heat really wasn't that bad. The creek proved to be pretty difficult to hike up, but we did it! This is when we were still quite positive!


The rocks just got more slippery, and the trail was harder to find. I swear no one's been there for years. Saw some beautiful country though. And Jax was being a good sport.

We soon reached another hurdle, and had to wade through waist-high water. I got so excited about this thinking that I was like Bear Grills on TV. Completely forgot about my wallet, keys, and cell phone, and the fact that they were in my pocket when I was comletely submerged in the water. Yep, the cell died, completely ruined. Also, Ari was really nervous about wading into the water. She did it though and I was so proud. After that hurdle, we stopped to picnic on a flat rock, in the very spare shade we could find. I hiked a little further to see if we should go on, and just couldn't turn back after making it that far. This is when I rolled my left ankle (I wasn't even holding Jax then which was the dumbest part. It wasn't as bad as the right though.) But every step I took was PAIN!. We finally got there and enjoyed Big Toe. It was so great to cool off, and we were feeling VERY adventurous. The sad part was there were a lot of sticks and washed down trees and logs that made the swimming hole not as fun as it used to be. It was pretty deep though. We couldn't believe I carried Jax that whole way and little pregnant Ari made the tough hike.



Jax was having a grand old time.



Momma was brave and went for a swim in that water too. What an adventurous soul I've got!

At about 12:30 or so, we decided we should head back. It was getting REALLY hot. I had NO idea how I was going to make it back on those ankles. Both rolled and swelling. Let alone carrying Jax. We said a prayer and hoped for the best. Jax was really whiny, hot, and sleepy. So we sang him Little Mermaid songs the whole way back. (That did the trick.) I just kept trying not to think about my ankles, and how I was probably damaging them for life. (just kidding, but I do have to teach next week.)

The way back was steady, somewhat uneventful except for another rolling of my right ankle and a little fall of Ari's. That's when the keys fell out of my back pack. I was so worried about Ari, we though I forgot to pick up the keys. When we got to unfamiliar territory on the creek, we realized we should have payed more attention to where we came out of the trail head down to the creek. I went up a hill to scout and found our cattle guard exit. (It's amazing we didn't see any rattlers in all that grass, which by the way I'm EXTREMELY allergic to. It was like I went through poison oak or ivy. Ari did not have the same side effects.) When we got out to the highway again, we felt like we were close to dying from heat stroke. Jax was fast asleep in my arms. This is when I think back to the keys falling, and forgetting to pick them up. After panicking and freaking out about what to do, I check my pocket (duh) and there they are. Whew! Seriously, could we be any more adventurous. It was fun, but maybe not the best thing to do with our current family circumstance. We'll definitely always have the memory. Maybe we'll go back when Jaxon is ten or so:)

My rashy legs:
Ari was a good sport to put up with me elevating my feet all day and trying to rest them up and ice them. After all, tomorrow is my official first day of work at Safford. I'll be the one hobbling around, wincing with every step!

Till next time. . . remember sun screen, and try not to go out in the heat of the day!