Humphreys Peak

25-Jun-94 (Private trip)

By: Tom Sumner

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Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the famous Greg and Mirna Roach led Tipton-Humphreys-Navajo trip over the Memorial Day weekend. So, when I learned that the incredible Tina Stough was finishing her third list on Humphreys during the fast weekend of June. I immediately called Tina to ask to be included in the festivities. As the weekend saw the hottest weather of the century here in "Hell-A", I drove out to the Kaibob campground (our meeting place), just past Williams, AZ, very very early on Friday morning, June 24th. By the time I arrived at the campground. Tina and her friend Karey Kusuhara had conveniently reserved a campsite for me adjacent to theirs. Friday evening we spent sharing and eating the goodies that each of us had prepared for the trip, my chili (as usual), and Karey's home-made cookies.

Fairly early Saturday morning I was champing at the bit to get going and get the peak. But Tina had to put the reins on me a little as she knew that they wouldn't open the gate to the trailhead until 8:00 AM, and that there was really no hurry to get going. One of these years I'll learn not to get so excited and antsy about getting a new DPS peak... yeah. right! We drove the 20+ miles into Flagstaff from Williams. and followed the guide to the trailhead at the Agassiz chairlift, whose gate they had just opened. We weren't there for five minutes when George and Carol Hubbard accompanied by their friend Bill Lingle showed up to join us on the hike. They had driven up from their new residences in Tucson, AZ, to help Tina celebrate. So our small group of six hearty hikers hit the trailhead around 8:30 on a beautifully cool morning, It was a leisurely hike during which we played "leap-frog" with other hikers whom we alternately passed and passed us along the trail as we took a couple of looooong breaks. The higher we climbed the breezier it became until we reached the treeless rocky area leading to the summit where it was a veritable gale of winds blowing at least 30 mph. At last on the summit around noon, we hid from the wind behind one of several rock wind-breaks and broke out the traditions/champagne to toast Tina' s achievement. There were many other hikers on the summit by that time who were a little mystified at our champagne and typical DPS list-finishing party behavior. I had to enlighten a few people as to the importance of this particular peak, the DPS, and the famous Tins Stough. Feeling a little light-headed we left the peak an hour and a half later and got back to our vehicles around 3:45. After a brief stop at Bill' s sister' s house in Flagstaff to wash up (and drink more champagne) we left for dinner at the Little America restaurant in Flagstaff. After dinner Tina, Karey and I went back to the campground, built a campfire and roasted marshmallows.

The following morning Tina and Karey were in no hurry to make the long journey back to LA, but finally decided to face the heat of the drive and left camp at 9:00. At about the same time I left for eastern AZ to do Navajo, then on to NV to climb Wheeler Peak and then to Elko in order to meet up with Bob Wyka. Tom Moumblow and co. to climb Ruby Dome. Ruby was Tom's list-finisher; Bob's fist-finisher would be on Wheeler the following day. That trip will be described elsewhere in the SAGE. From Elko I drove to Bridgeport, CA to climb Mt. Patterson.

Congratulations and thanks, Tina; it was a lot of fun!


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