A Local Hike

On Saturday morning we went on a hike between El Paso and Las Cruces, NM to a peak called Bishop's Cap.  The mountains go all along the freeway between the two cities (Las Cruces is 40 miles north), and luckily the people who lead the meetup hikes know where they are going.  We parked at spot with a few trailheads, but quickly ditched the trail and just started scrambling up the side of the mountain!  And our leader was an old woman, it was wild. On the way up, it was mostly simple, only a few places where one needed one's hands to help, but we took a much steeper way down it was amazing!  Everyone taking their own unique "path," lots of losing balance, a couple big plops on the ground to grant humility.

Our group was seven people, and a really splendid mix.  We had John the retired Army pilot who is very outdoorsy and gave great tips on some things to do around El Paso.  Alex and Maritza (sp?) are a Puerto Rican couple who are just adorable.  They've been hiking together since they started dating 27 years ago and just exude a genuine kind playfulness that was delightful to be around.  They hiked to Everest base camp last year and I was riveted by her storytelling of the expedition.  (One funny note - a woman on that trip decided halfway through that she was over it, so her husband paid the $10,000 to get her a helicopter ride out!)

Then there was Mark, the incredibly sweet traveling nurse-man who is temporarily working at a hospital in El Paso on a four month contract.  He was a civil rights attorney for 16 years, then knew he needed to do something more physically involved to help people, so he became an ER nurse!  He seemed totally outdoorsy and athletic, but turns out this was just his second hike here in El Paso and before coming here he had hiked hardly at all.  And how does he look like a 30 year old despite having turned 48 a few days prior to the hike?  Yoga of course.  He told us toward the end of the hike that he was actually counting it as his birthday celebration because he's been working through his birthday.  I think everyone felt very moved to be unwittingly thrust into a poignant endeavor.  It was good he told us at the end, when we were all feeling very proud of our accomplishment, rather than informing us at the beginning - then I know I would have felt pressure to make it an EXTRA good hiking experience.  But no, luckily that happened naturally.

And lastly we had Carol.  How awesome that she chooses to lead groups to random places they would never know about on their own almost every weekend.  The only sad thing is that she told us that she's brought her golden retriever on this hike a couple times and I would have loved having a dog along! Though it would have certainly increased my anxiety on the steep bits.

Bishop's Cap
our destination: the top of the hat

There were times I would look out at our party and feel like we were on a Lord of the Rings style quest, making our way across this crazy landscape, no trails to follow... But we were only going to a higher elevation to eat lunch.

Finally...almost at the bottom