Humphfreys Peak

I climbed Humphfreys Peak (the highest mountain in Arizona at 12633, http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150241/humphreys-peak.html) yesterday with three geomorph people from campus. We drove up on Saturday and camped in the parking lot near the trailhead. The only other time that I have camped in a parking lot was when Johnny, Jeff and I went up the Conness Glacier. It rained that night and Johnny and I slept under a tarp that we attached to his car. The water pooled under my sleeping bag and soaked it. That was also the trip that my backpack somehow weighed 48 pounds with me carrying our tent and my crampons and plastic boots (when I rented crampons they wouldn't let me use my hiking boots).....Ahhh the memories.....

Anyway, on this trip we slept under a full moon and a mostly clear sky and it was below freezing. I put my (relatively) new 0 degree bag/bivy combo to the test and was actually warm through most of the night! We got up with the sunrise and started hiking around 7:30. Along the way we saw some fantastic fall colors















and lots of frost on trees and rocks. It was really windy and cold near the summit and Nic and I were both reminded of our days at UB (with 70 mile/hr winds through campus). We ate lunch at the top but were all really cold and headed down quickly (more pics on flickr). I was a zombie when I got home and was in bed by 9:30.