47.05 Arizona: Mount Humphreys: Triumph! Okay, settle down. Settle for tough and rewarding.
The two opening pictures provide perspective of the San Francisco Mountain range taken earlier this year. Mount Humphreys is left-rear. We completed our third successful peak climb of Mount Humphreys, a giant that rises to an altitude of 12,633 feet making it the highest in the State of Arizona. On a clear day, a person can see the deepest hole in the state from the peak, the great Grand Canyon. While it does not have difficult climbing sections, it makes up for it by being over ten miles in length, a rocky and treacherous trail surface and an elevation gain of 3,333 feet. One has to be guarded about foot-placings the whole trail. We had been at sea-level for the past month or more so beginning at 9,000 and reaching 12,600 made an impact. We lost appetites, not a bad thing, lost strength, not a good thing but nothing serious. Truth be told, our muscles complained and offered an opinion that the height gain was closer to 4,000 feet. We never argue with muscles. Hump...