‘Transmitting from our base station on Mingus Mountain, Prescott.’ We have heard that often as we tune in, via the internet, to our favorite radio station based in this city. No matter where in the world we are, with a computer and internet access, we hear the music, adverts and time of day. As we are mostly in different time zones, it can be funny sitting at a desk at 9am, the announcer bidding us ‘goodnight’. Why do we mention this? Today we hiked on Mingus Mountain, fairly short at 5 miles with an elevation gain of over 1,100 feet, although a greater amount cumulative. It was nice to do that, to be at the place from which we receive streaming audio. Sounds silly but it’s difficult to explain.
For the rest, the views were good but do not match that which we are accustomed, that is, what we have witnessed over the last 8 weeks—we mentioned this after the Granite Mountain outing last missive. Nevertheless, the hike was terrific and looking down into the forests and across at the mountains was pretty decent, too. The steep sections gave us a good workout, something we enjoy and find important. We probably won’t return to Prescott again unless to pass through.
During the latter hike, we had another of those fascinating coincidences. It happened on Jenni’s birthday. By the way, her age and energy have no correlation—sometimes we think the number of years is an arbitrary figure. Anyway, we met a couple, Debra and Howard. We walked with them for a while, separated and then met up later to hike together before parting once more. Sounds odd but you had to be there. Debra lived in Hawaii for a number of years. Jenni mentioned that we were there in March and had a landlord who produces a TV program of a spiritual nature for the local station. We wrote of him in a blog at the time, Len the prophet, with the long gray beard. It turns out she knows him as well as his friends and staff members. We interacted with the staff at the time, too. All were pleasant but had what might be termed ‘Island fever or spirit’—in fact, a whole lot of island spirit. The coincidences, once again, make the experiences memorable. The chances of these meetings occurring are so remote and yet we have enjoyed a number of them over the past few years. Perhaps we should buy a lottery ticket.
Although it did not cheer us, we followed instructions in getting to the trailhead for Spruce Mountain and ended up doing two separate trails but the one intended. For once we were not the party in the wrong—the directions were incorrect. We can't remember that happening before and hope it does not happen soon. We know it will occur again; it is only a matter of time. The two trails amounted to eleven miles with a fair amount of elevation gain which we are unable to estimate. Unfortunately, while the views were nice, Prescott just cannot compete with its neighbors. You can't have everything. After all, there are no Trader Joe's in Southern Utah.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
A few sunsets we thought were particularly colorful, actually exquisite:
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