[Day 13] Mogollon Rim

I walk off the Colorado Plateau today! I only froze a bit this late October hike. Last night had sustained cold. My watch, off the wrist, measured the morning air at 15°F. This morning’s breakfast was a Gatorade slushy, flavored to mitigate the smokey taste that tainted last night’s water source, Elk Tank.

The Colorado Plateau is a region of high desert roughly centered at the four corners region, capturing parts of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and a sliver of southeastern Nevada and featuring the greatest concentration of stunning national parks outside of Washington DC metropolitan. Living on this plateau, a person receives on the order of two to four times the terrestrial (meaning from the ground) radiation as compared with other parts of the country. It’s not too surprising — the largest uranium deposits in the country are found on this plateau. Factor in that this tableland averages well above a mile in elevation, a resident of the Colorado Plateau is certainly seeing more than average cosmic radiation due to less atmospheric protection. In total, background radiation is much higher for a citizen of the plateau as compared to the massive coastal populations in the US. Now, you might expect that higher background radiation means more risk of cancer and shorter lifespan. Surprisingly, in this report, higher background radiation environments have been found to increase lifespan. Opposite to expectation, there’s beneficial health effects, and many other studies, including this one about A-bomb survivors, agree with this. You’ll find my future residency on the Colorado Plateau — or maybe Wyoming, they have a lot of uranium too — real soon. (Aside: if you are curious about your approximate annual radiation exposure, check out this calculator from the EPA.)

Though the southwestern portion is much arid forest, excepting the Grand Canyon, the plateau is known elsewhere for astonishing desert formations — slot canyons, domes, reefs, natural bridges, fins — as seen in Zion, Arches, and other Utah National Parks. Not to forget, one of my favorite mountain ranges, the San Juan’s, are atop this plateau. So is the El Malpaís of New Mexico. So is Monument Valley of Arizona. The list goes on.

This morning’s start was late. I wasted a good amount of time standing in the sunlight to warm. I started walking sometime around 9:15am. More burn area blanketed the earth. Near Rock Crossing Campground, closure signs for wildfire directed hikers to reroute. I was unclear if I was alright to walk through the burn area, but, too late, I did. There wasn’t any northern closure notices, though there were some smoldering hotspots when I went through that were questionable.

I continued towards the edge of the Colorado Plateau, a feature known as the Mogollon (with a Spanish double “l”) Rim. The trail paralleled some power lines that dropped off the rim at the same place as trail, so I followed those for a while for a bit of roller coaster walking. The days have been dead flat. Just before the rim, I stopped at General Springs Cabin for lunch. It was a clean, neat little cabin for its age.

Finally, I arrived — the edge of the plateau. Trail quite immediately dropped 1,000 feet. Soon, I was amongst manzanita, pines, cedar, and much more abundant foliage. Temperature comfortably jumped ten degrees higher. The first natural streams of the trail appeared out of the fingers of the rim.

Trail weaved in and out of the fins extending from the rim, and I followed into the night, navigating some recent burn areas. The winds were aggressive, often blinding with dusty whirlwinds. The last few miles were rough; my hip numbed and my big toe verged on explosion.

Finally, in the dark, I arrived to Bear Spring, only to be surprised by no apparent water source. Upstream was bone dry. Luckily, the downstream direction yielded a clean seep. I pitched camp, settling in for a tumultuous night of wind. After a dinner of rehydrated pinto beans and extra toasty Cheez-Its, I rolled to my belly and drooled to sleep.

Signing off,

Zeppelin

“Freak on a Leash”