The Esperero Chronicles 2008

Here’s a series of accounts of runners’ adventures–

First a tally of participants:

Hello,Following are the final results of last Sunday’s Esperero.I didn’t want anybody left out. This is one for the records.gjRunners:

Reed Harris 3hrs Phoneline

Steve & Donna Kanoza, Joe Dana 3:15 Phoneline

Chase 4:52 Esperero

Gene 5:24 Esperero

Jane Larkindale 5:30 Esperero

Jim Holmes 5:30 Esperero

Steve Rourke 5:32 Esperero with a Phone Line finish

Troy ??? 6 ish Esperero

Joe Plassman 6:23 Esperero

Bruce Johnson 6:33 Esperero

Joel Stamp 6:33 Esperero

Doug Kelly 7:40 Esperero+Cathedral

Ross 9:50 Esperero

Kandi Karuza 9:20

Rick Kelley 13:27

Much has already been said, I see. Perhaps we DO need to have a bit more of a system in place in case a wheel falls off…But i reckon I’m too much of a libertarian to really encourage too much codification. Maybe for runs like this one, Ross’s Blurb should encourage people to follow Bachani’s Maxim : Take what you need to spend the night. Bachani has had some bad things happen to him, and he is still standing. Sounds like Rick Kelley can wear the “tough hombre” mantle now, too.Anyway, the worst bit for me arose because one of the runners wrote down that he was only going to do 2 1/2 hr run, out and back. Since I covered the lower 4 miles in the time frame when he should have been returning, it was apparent that he had done some kind of jack move. So at 5 hours, I started to get concerned and called his wife. Started to scramble the capable Jim and Jane Rescue Duo, and then the missing runner shows up… Having run the whole thing. Apologies to your wife, man. Didn’t mean to cause her alarm. But it was a rather nasty day to be out on the mountain if you were there much past noon.cheers,g

Chase’s story–

Esperero Canyon Loop 2008 A Green PerspectiveAbout a dozen hearty souls ran up into Sabino Canyon at 7:05am onSunday morning, the 16th of March. By 7:10 I made a wrong turn offthe road ending at a restroom. I quickly cut through a wash and foundthe Esperero trail hooking up with Doug Kelly. We leisurely workedthe trail and enjoyed the sunrise shining through partly cloudy skieson newly sprung wildflowers.It wasn’t until after Cardiac Climb that we encountered our firstdecision point which was quickly solved by combined efforts. A halfmile further we encountered a washout with many large trunks of treesentangled in boulders. Just past this snarl and to the right, trailwas rerouted along the edge of the washout. Up until now the trailwas fairly evident with many cairns placed along the way.After the Esperero / Cathedral Rock junction the trail was overgrownwith bushes and large limbs of trees to climb over but was stillfollowable along the front of Cathedral with no difficulties makingour way to the shoulder of the Rock, or maybe it was the armpit, I’mstill not sure. I did figure out where the crotch was a half miledown the backside. Doug and I reached top-out at 2:06. I offered thatwe work together finding West Fork but he was intent on taking theside-trip to the Cathedral. As I surveyed the descent on the backsideand tried to get an idea of proper direction I felt a sense offoreboding. I studied the topographical map for this trail prior tothe run and identified a spur directly north about 150 meters downthe slope. In absence of a trail to follow, my plan was to scrambleto the spur, guide right, and stay below the ridge while I followedit 1.6 miles into West Fork. I visually located what I thought wasthe spur and then before heading down the slope I looked to my rightthrough some small trees and found a trail. Unfortunately it onlylasted 100 feet.Trail quickly disappeared so rather than continually stopping andtrying to identify every little space that looked like an opening,wasting immense amounts of time, I dashed off to my right into aravine of large boulders and followed the new route. I completelyforgot about my spur plan as I was covering ground fairly quicklyjumping in, over and around boulders and snags. Several times Ispotted footprints which made me feel like I wasn’t the only idiotthat bought this route. Occasionally I encountered the waterfall rockthat was too high but lucked out and could maneuver the shiggy to thesides and find alternate ways around without backtracking. I hadspent 20 minutes in this fashion thinking that if the old trail werestill evident I’d probably be at the bottom by now. I caught anoccasional glimpse of the green topped trees in the West Fork. Italways looked very far away and far below my present position.Mentally I tried not to worry about my choice of a route. I had takena gel back at top-out and had used electrolytes every hour so I wasable to maintain confidence in my decisions which preventedhesitation of forward movement. It had become damnably cold aboutthis time as well as light flurries falling out of the sky so Istopped and donned my gloves. Now the real fun began.In retrospect I must have gone too far to my right and overshot myavenue, probably due to encountering a drop-off I couldn’t handlethus forcing me to go too far around and losing my original ravine. Ifound myself dropping into a nice wide gully with plenty of room tochoose alternate paths around giant boulders. I even jumped off acouple house size rocks into nice sandy landings not thinking thatthere would be no way back if I was wrong. Why worry about thatthough, I’m not coming back. This was too easy. Looking ahead I wasgetting a good view of the other side of West Fork and identified theRomero Pass trail when I ended up wedging myself into a `V’ formationof boulders with two ascending rock walls on both sides. I came to astop and peered into the abyss 30 feet below. For one or twomilliseconds the thought crossed my mind that I could slide down andthen drop maybe 15 feet or so. For obvious reasons that synapse quitfiring. My legs are becoming wobbly as I really don’t know what todo. I can see where I want to be and I can’t turn around because Iover committed. It’s amazing how far 1.6 miles extends visuallylooking downhill.Just to the rear of the rock face on my left were dozens of youngtrees with spikes the size of sewing needles protruding up and downtheir trunks which were growing between rocks that fit together likea children’s puzzle jammed into place with pieces remaining on thefloor. The only option I had was to climb the rocks by placing myfingers into well placed cracks and grasp the needle bushes forleverage and stability. The climb was about 10 or 12 feet up until Icould get my feet on a flat surface. I managed to crawl through moreshiggy on my hands and knees until I rounded the backside of the rockface and found daylight.I was feeling good now especially because I had some awesome catscratches all over my body to show off when I got home and at workthe next day. Trish ran the half-marathon in Rancho Vistoso earlierthis morning so I knew I had her beat for battle wounds. I don’t knowif I was near the old trail route but I had a much easier time movingthrough this part of the mountain as I readjusted my glidepath downto the final slope that dropped into West Fork. Continuing to useRomero Trail as a guide I made as direct a descent as I couldfiguring when I got into the trees I may go up the other side to thetrail I knew was there and run it back to the proper intersection. Ifinally got into the riverbed and made a right. Within 100 feet thelower limbs of trees were cleared away like I was in a campground andlow and behold, the Romero Pass / West Fork / Cathedral Rock junctionsign; one hour exactly from the top-out.I stopped to empty my shoes and get a bite to eat and then turnedright on my way to Hutches Pool. I ran a quarter mile down the trailand spotted two humans coming towards me. They asked me what theRomero Trail was like and I responded that I didn’t come down it butI spied a trail from above while on the Esperero Slide so at least Iknow one exists. I then asked them if they had seen any other runnersin order to know if anyone got down quicker. They reported no peoplesince Hutches. The West Fork leg of the trail is in remarkably goodshape with large cairn piles and no trees to climb over. As I movedcloser to Hutches and out of the depth of the fork the trail was easyto follow as the grasses were still dormant. The footing isn’t thebest on many portions but to my recollection it never was. I ran byHutches and crossed the stream keeping my feet dry. The trail comingby Hutches Poole all the way to Sabino Basin has been worked nicelywith no footing problems. I climbed out of the basin and looked downand to the right across to the side I just came from. I could see nomovement of other runners. Has anyone ever thought of shortcuttingthat in the past? Upon reaching the top of the road I reached theparking lot in 26 minutes taking 1:40 from the West Fork / Cathedraljunction for a total time of 4:52:11.Geno was faithfully waiting by the truck with Gatorade and otherrefreshments. I didn’t really know what to say to him except, “Giveme a call later this evening if you need help on the search andrescue effort.” He never called so I assume that meant even Joel eventually made it back from his hour and a half out and back jaunt that at the time I finished he was two hours overdue according to aphone report from his wife and son. It was a great experience but alittle harrowing at times especially since I told Trish I would behome by 1:00pm to make the corned beef, potatoes and cabbage dinnerthat I had planned for the family in celebration of St. Patrick’sDay. Oh yeah, Guinness too, or three.

Chase

____________________________________________________________Ross’s note–

Wanders in the Wilderness,

I knew this was going to be a weird day when I started to notice white stuff coming down out of the sky at Bridal Veil Falls. I had to stare at a flake melting on my glove to convince myself it was snow. I’ll post an account with photos on the blog in the next couple of days. Other adventure accounts appreciated. Chase, if you don’t mind, I’m going to post yours to the blog (Or you could join, etc…J).In the meantime, the word “harrowing” comes to mind. Even I had difficulty staying on trail, and you may remember this was my first trail run in 1979 (I didn’t end up putting a route in GPS but I think I may post one for future reference.). Those of us on the slow end of the spectrum got to experience some cold, wet conditions. I was trying really hard to get down the road before a wave of cold rain hit. When my ears and arms started to sting from the impacts a mile out, I realized instead of rain I was getting hail.The back side of this route is unacceptably hard to follow. I’ve heard of 2 cases of folks doing things pretty different from what was advertised to Geno. That’s potentially pretty dangerous, as were the situations of people who couldn’t find the trail and came down the flank of Cathedral Rock toward West Fork trail hoping for the best. Kandi will attest to the several occasions where we went off trail, I walked us back until we knew we were, then searched until we found the trail again.We’ll need to discuss whether this run is practical next year. It would be if we spent a day clearing and marking the trail from the top down to West Fork. West Fork was actually very easy to follow between our work and the work of trail crews.Congratulations to everyone who completed this run. You’re tough customers. I’m considering a new category beyond Advanced…Ross Z

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Rick’s adventure–

My adventure began as I was descending from the topout having a heck of a time finding the trail and staying on it. I had made it past the steepest section and was on a slightly flatter section and lost trail again. My GPS indicated that I was staying pretty much on trail. Then, it started to snow and it was snowing quite HARD. Visibility was poor and the snow was accumulating quickly. I could see no cairns, no footprints and the snow would obstruct the screen of my GPS quickly. I could not find the trail either forward or back. I was screwed. It was still snowing quite hard and getting colder. If I were to get off the mountain, I needed to get down fast. I could see the major drainage that I knew parallels the lower section of the Cathedral Rock trail and is the one you cross to get onto the trail to Romero Pass. At that point, I decided to do what I vowed I would never do, bushwhack. So, I picked my way down the mountain, most of the time on all fours to be as stable as I could and after what seemed an eternity made it down to the drainage. The drainage was even harder to navigate. There were several sudden drops and fallen tress to work around. The snowy rocks were slippery but the algae covered rocks were worse. I took several nasty falls, one of which I thought I had broken my left arm. Fortunately, I was wrong. I waded through pools of icy water which at times was to my waist. I was at a point of exhaustion when I looked ahead and could see two hikers on the trail to Romero Pass. Yipee! I think it took me close to an additional hour to finally get to where I could scramble up the slope and onto the Cathedral Rock Trail.

My little side trip took a lot of time and exhausted me but I managed to get to Sabino Basin before it got dark. I try to carry flashlights on any epic run so I was able to get back to Sabino by flashlight. I also try to carry an emergency rain poncho and was very glad that I did.

Bushwhacking as I did is dangerous. I would never recommend it but I feel it was my only choice given the circumstances. I was fortunate that I did not get seriously injured. I would have died out there and would have never been found.

Lesson to be learned other than not allow fat, over-the-hill runners to not participate? I feel that I exercised bad judgement in doing the run in spite of knowing that I would be out there at a time when a notable storm would be arriving. Any nasty weather in rugged high country is serious business and should be considered as a potentially life threatening situation. I have to admit there were some moments out there that I thought I wasn’t going to make it.

I apologize for any stress and concern I caused.

Thanks,

Rick

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Bruce’s comment–Quite a tale, Rick. I am very glad that you made it out OK.It was certainly an adventure for me but much more fun (for the most part). It was actually easier to follow the trail up through Esperero Canyon than I remember it being last year. I had no trouble until it came time to go down the back side; that should not be on a future run until some major work is done. Four of us (Joel, Troy, Joe & I) worked together to find a way down, and it took us an hour. We left a fair amount of blood behind on the thorns. I was very glad that I wasn’t alone for that stretch and kept hoping that others were not doing that solo. The West Fork trail is in great shape; that part was wonderful.Thanks for watching out for us, Geno.

Bruce J

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Jerry’s alternative–

Our tale…

In anticipation of a cold, wet bushwhacking experience Chris Fall , Bob Redwanc and I headed out on the BEAR Canyon trail at 6:30AM ( so as to avoid

any unpleasant weather). The trail was easily found and had even been improved near topout. On the way down to Sabino canyon we encountered Julie and Alli who

had similar trepedations. Our plan was to add some miles by going to Hutches pool, but when we crossed over from Sabino basin we saw black clouds. When the temperature dropped several degrees we turned around and headed home.It was possible it was going to rain after all.

Fortunately we made it out without any rain or scratches .Immediately we sought the nearest Starbucks.

Life was good.

jerry

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Joe P’s account–

I found the Esperero trail -> Cathedral turnoff well marked enough (running solo), but literally 5 feet after topping the saddle below Cathedral I was hung up in catclaw with no idea where the proper path might be. I was happy to hear Bruce, Joel and Troy below me, headed for their voices and a shared bushwhack to Romero trail. The Cathedral-Romero trail section is not hard to follow, it is simply non-existent.

Over the years, I’ve found the Catalina Front Range to be one of the most challenging, weather-wise, of just about anywhere I’ve been. On another occasion some friends and I were below Mt. Kimball when a squall moved in, visibility dropped to 20ft, the temperature dropped 20 degrees and wet snow started falling horizontally at the rate of 6″ an hour. In 20 minutes our packs and tracks were covered, we almost lost our packs and almost couldn’t find the trail.

It’s perhaps the generally mild weather you’d expect to have, the closeness to home and just the general familiarity you’d profess to have with your home turf, but every once in a while Mother Nature just rears up and slaps you up side the head.

Joe P

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Gene’s perspective–

Esperero 08 What a day for a run! It started out great with the best show of wildflowers in the lower section that we’ve had in years. The trail up was easily followed , but about a mile from topout, it turned cold and started to snow. This in itself was not so bad, but the trail down from the top was the worst I have ever seen it. It used to be the norm that it was overgrown, but it was only manzanita and oak. The trail could always be found with some scouting and ducking and pushing through. Now it’s as badly overgrown as before, but with New Mexico locust (4-6 feet tall with half inch hooked thorns) and Ceonothus with stiff, spine tipped branches. I would say that we are all blood brothers and sisters now, but I doubt that any two people took the same route down. The trail is virtually non-existent due to it being washed down slope with recent rains, with only a few cairns visible and arguably of any help. I met up with Steve at the top and together we made our way down the route. It was of great help to have two pairs of eyes watching for trail sign. We could fan out as far as 20 or 30 yards apart and scour the slopes much faster than alone. As soon as we reached the west fork, the trail was easily followed and in places it looked like a California trail, i.e. wide, flat and no rocks. It has obviously been worked since our Mt. Lemmon ascent. All of this makes for a good run adventure, but the additional factor of bad weather added a real element of danger. By late morning and early afternoon we were socked in. By that time I was down at the parking lot standing around and shivering in not enough clothes and majorly concerned about those still out. Everybody did make it in, but not without some trepidation on everyone’s part. Time for some procedural reality checks. We had four situations that were made worse because of the weather, besides the fact that several participants were badly slowed by the lack of good trail. We actually called Search and Rescue and called them off 10 minutes later as our missing runner came in. This was the result of a change of plan (both verbal and written on the sign in sheet) of one runner to complete the entire loop after committing to only a 2.5 hr. run. This was a seemingly innocent change of plan, but in reality caused this runner to come in over 4 hours behind his schedule, putting the RD and others on the spot. 4 hours late is bad enough, but in bad weather, there was little choice but to call. Another situation was a runner on the course who had not signed in. There was some discussion over who he was and where he was and even if he was out there. This is not fair to the RD whose responsibility is to keep track of everyone. Another runner changed plan and decided to add some miles at the top, and he at least did tell another runner what he was going to do, but coupled with the weather and the other unknowns was cause for some consternation. The last situation was simply a runner not knowing the route of the run and instead of finishing down the road (and in the order that had been known up till then ) he finished down phoneline, about 30 minutes later than expected. Some thoughts are this: any change in plan needs to be thought out and the RD needs to be considered. He/she should not be put in a position of extra concern, nor forced to be out there longer than planned. All runners need to sign in with an emergency phone number. It has been suggested that we sign in with the vehicle type and license number of our ride to the run. I think that this is a good idea and we will probably implement it in the near future. If you are new to the course, study the map in advance and carry it with you. Be prepared for bad weather, especially in high country. This is still a doable route, however since we are probably not going to do a preparedness check on runners, we might drop it from the schedule until the backside can be cleaned up. I would just as soon be out there running and having fun rather than writing this, but one of the reasons for this note is that if anything ever does happen to a runner out there, the heirs, if they sue, would likely target the RD, Ross and myself (hopefully in that order). gjp.s. does any body know what ‘Esperero’ means?

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Rick’s help with the name–

According to an entry in Betty Leavengood’s “Tucson Hiking Guide”, the trail was originally called the Dixie Saddle Trail and was eventually renamed for unknown reasons to ‘Esperero’, which is Spanish for ‘hopeful’. It was built in 1924 by the Forest Service.

Rick