Driving to Point Sublime took over two hours on dirt roads that became progressively worse. When we reached the picnic area, we were surprised to find all three picnic tables occupied, two by picnickers and one by a guy taking a nap (??), and campers with their tents at the very end of the point about 1 mile further on the trail. Considering that we had seen no other vehicles except for a few ATVs on our way there, we did not expect to find so many people in such an isolated and difficult to reach location.
From Point Sublime, we spotted smoke from the Saffron fire, ignited by a lightning strike a week ago Saturday, which has burned about 400 acres so far. It's not a large fire; fire teams are monitoring it rather than fighting it because it's consuming fuel which needs to be removed from the forest. The smoke has moved into DeMott Meadows, where we are located, making the sky hazy and giving the air a pungent odor.
We decided to make the return trip via a slightly shorter but more difficult route. What a mistake! This road was a million quantum leaps more terrible than those on the way out. Rocks, ruts, roots, steep hills, drastic drop-offs--every hazard imaginable confronted us. About 4.5 miles from the paved road we came upon an abandoned Mercedes SUV blocking the road--smack in the middle of a narrow bridge. A note on the dash claimed the vehicle was 'stuck' (of which there was no evidence) and the occupants were walking to the ranger station. No inducement on earth could convince us to backtrack over the 12 miles we'd just managed to survive, so Fred went off-road through the woods, across a dry stream bed and over a 3' high berm to get around that obstacle. Thank heavens for the 4WD Jeep!
I was so incensed by the SUV people's lack of consideration that I vowed to report them to the ranger as soon as we got to the park. We saw no walkers along the road so they must have gotten a ride before we encountered their vehicle. They would have had adequate time to reach the ranger station well before I arrived. However, my report was the first the ranger had received. Very suspicious.
It took more than five hours to travel a mere 45 miles in the back country. Although the view from Point Sublime is lovely, it is no better and not very different from that offered by viewpoints that are quicker and easier to reach. I'd advise visitors to skip Point Sublime and travel instead to Toroweap for views that are truly spectacular and unique. And the chance of encountering annoying people is far less.
Last night was so extraordinarily cold that we had trouble sleeping. The stress of yesterday's road trip and last night's sleeplessness caught up with us this morning and made hiking seem more chore than pleasure. We decided to go to Kanab to do laundry and buy groceries. Phone calls to our kids and lunch at Nedra's made the trip fun.
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