Sunday, February 07, 2016

Sunday 7th February 2016...a day I shall not forget!!!

I kept the ceiling fan on low all night and had a good restful sleep till 8am and it was hot already...I took my time over my yogurt and fruit breakfast and then started to pack up my lunch including many drinks....I had bought a map of local hikes and they are all listed in degree of difficulty and as I am Percy's boy I tackled the hardest hike first today

The Pinnacle via the Grand Canyon!!

I drove about 15 minutes to the parking lot for the start of this hike and passed this convey of motor cycles must have been at least 300 of them..



There was a group of young folks at the sign and I asked them the time and I thought as I started to climb there they were with no back packs, no food and just one bottle of water each and there I was loaded down like a pack mule either good to be young or good to be wise and old...more on them later!!!

Yes that is where I am heading!!!
There were a few waterfalls listed on the map but these were well and truly dry although what they call the Roman Baths were being used to cool down by the kids and their parents....

The hike then started to get hard a total gain in elevation of over 1300 feet and I could feel it also it was really hot....


One section is called the Grand Canyon and some neat rock formations here....




still climbing but almost at the top, the Pinnacle......I took these photos and then I went and stood where these people are




and looked back at these rocks


and could not believe my eyes one of the kids that I saw at the base was out on the edge climbing I thought what a total nutter...I leaned down to get my camera out of my back pack and heard this ungodly scream...the kid had fell I saw him go down maybe 50 feet then try to grab a tree and then continued falling..it was just sickening...his groups of friends came to where I was because I could see him laying on a ledge..they screamed down to him and fortunately he answered..he told them he was bad his head split open and he could not feel his right side.....they called the ambulance and police and continued to shout down to him to make sure he stayed awake.....I am sorry to say that it took over 90 minutes for the air ambulance arrive and then these rescue workers who climbed up...




They moved us off the peak and I could tell from where he was that the helicopters could not get close enough to him to send down help and that the workers would have to rappel into the gulley and winch him up, which I hope happened......

I did not feel like eating but knew I must and I had company!!

I was back at the base and I could still hear the helicopter.....just hope that the young man will be Ok and what a lesson the choices you make in life can come back to haunt you...for me I look at that rock face and have no idea how anyone would be so foolish as go over the side without any rock climbing gear!!!
It was a hard hike and I was glad to get to base especially as my greeting party was


and in the river this beauty!!!



Came home and drank lots of water while I did a load of wash which I hung out on the line.
Cooked myself some nice, tasty lamb chops.....had a Mexican shower..what is that you may ask?? On the coast in Mexico the weather is so hot the showers only have cold water which feels so refreshing once you get under, well I kept the water tepid while I showered...did the blog and I may stay awake long enough to watch a movie!!

Yashi Kochi!!!

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