Our latest outdoor adventure, as recounted by a client journalist:
This week we went to visit Kendrick Mountain, about 20 miles NW of Flagstaff. This modest peak, which sits at 10,500ft above sea level, tends to be over shadowed by Mt. Humphrey’s (12,600ft). Humphrey’s is the trademark Flagstaff peak but Kendrick Mountain is a close second.
Before we hiked Kendrick we went to an early AA meeting in Flagstaff Sunday morning. After that we went to the local climbing gym for about three hours while it thunder stormed heavily outside. Most of us have gotten to climb throughout our stay here, but the really cool part was seeing the new guys experience climbing for the first time.
After the gym we went to basecamp at the base of Kendrick Mountain. We all set up our tents and it was fun learning how to set up a tarp shelter. We had alfredo pasta for dinner, and then we sat around and had some post dinner conversations. Most of us went to bed pretty early that night since we needed to be up early the next day for our hike.
Monday morning we all got up at 5:45am and were at the trailhead by 7:30am. It was close to 4.5 miles with 2,500ft of elevation gain before we reached the summit. About a half mile from the summit we got to see an old cabin, built in 1912 to house the fire lookout. There had been a huge fire on the north side of Kendrick Mountain in 2000, called the Pumpkin Fire. This fire had started from a lighting strike and burned almost 15,000 acres. they were able to cover the cabin with flame resistant material and save it. However the hike up revealed much of the fire’s aftermath.
Once we got to the summit we hung out on the helicopter pad and enjoyed the amazing view that we all worked hard for. There was also the new fire lookout tower right next to us, built in 1964. After we returned to camp we all grabbed our journals and headed into town to journal for Sharing is Caring group at the Campus Coffee Bean. we all drank our coffee and wrote about how our perspectives have changed since being at B2B. After some time we went to attend the Happy Hour AA meeting at 5:30pm in downtown Flagstaff. We returned to our campsite, cooked tacos and threw around the frisbee while enjoying the outrageous sunset that the monsoon rain clouds can provide.
The next day we enjoyed a relaxing morning with a big egg burrito breakfast and coffee. After packing up camp we held our Sharing is Caring group for one fine last hour in the Ponderosa Pines. It was a fun and fulfilling trip. The weather turned out better than expected and we all stayed dry for the most part.
Love always,
The B2B Clients
