I am lucky enough to have a friend in Phoenix who will get up at the crack of dawn and go on hikes. He knows all the good ones, too. The desert in the dark is as close as I will ever get to diving in a deep sea exploration pod. It was underwater back in the Cambrian period after all…
Dec 20, 2022·edited Dec 20, 2022Liked by Neko Case
It never looked like this growing up, Phoenix. Definitely not as many lights. But the descriptions of the cacti and the smells of the desert at night are still the same. Those were what I noticed as a little girl. My most prominent memory of the desert at night was camping with my class at Lake Pleasant. It was only a campground back then, nothing else around. I was terrified to walk alone but not because Phoenix was a scary place. It was because I'd seen the movie Gargoyles and I was a kid so the monsters were real to me 😉. But those smells, intoxicating!!! I cannot find words worthy enough to describe them. I became a Legal Eagle Saver at this campground...I still have my badge somewhere. A friend in high school used to drive us to Lake Pleasant on weekends and we'd hike over the mountain and sit by the water and owls would fly over us, their wing spans were so wide that they would block out the moonlight. And you couldn't see the bats, but you could hear their squeaks and feel their movement in the air around you. There was no greater peace back then. I moved away from Phoenix in 1991, and regretfully I haven't been back. South Mountain isn't the same and Phoenix has developed far, far into what was only dirt and cacti and critters. I wish you could've seen it back then. So magical. The last hike up South Mountain was with my son who was just around a year old. He's thirty-two now and has moved to the ocean, my second magical place. But I'll never forget my desert. Thank you, Neko, for bringing it back to me for a little while. xxx
Neko (& everyone), this sounds weird, but during downhill walking, try landing on the balls of your feet first instead of your heels. It really saves the knees.
I walk like that all the time, it's helped me recover from some severe back problems.
Lovely, Neko. I especially like your grieving groundwater. The imagery of it, not the fact.
A full moon hike, starting at sunset, in deep desert wilderness (like Anza Borrego in California) is a truly otherworldly experience. If you have the opportunity, take it.
Sounds great. Poles help for the downhills. Speaking of pre dawn hikes, have you done East Mountain in your Northeast Kingdom neck of the woods in late May migration. N. Saw-whet owls and Bicknell’s thrush calling and that creepy abandoned radar US government listening station up top an eery sight at sunrise.
Never been to Phoenix but now I want to go…I was walking home from an event last week and left with another guest, a guy. He was asking about my neighborhood which is generally safe but we were on very quiet, dark side streets and it was approaching 11:00 pm. Also, I had my camera gear with me and din’t want to get jumped for that either. I had to explain to him that there is never a time, as a woman, where I don’t have to think about my safety. Believe me, this guy is NOT someone I would have chosen to hang out with. He was loud, a little drunk and hit in me despite the fact I mentioned my husband and son. Come to think about it, I probably would have been better off on my own-he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Cold early morning hikes in the desert will always be my favorite. I like to take a thermos of coffee up a hill and get there to watch the sunrise. Best side of Phoenix by far!
It never looked like this growing up, Phoenix. Definitely not as many lights. But the descriptions of the cacti and the smells of the desert at night are still the same. Those were what I noticed as a little girl. My most prominent memory of the desert at night was camping with my class at Lake Pleasant. It was only a campground back then, nothing else around. I was terrified to walk alone but not because Phoenix was a scary place. It was because I'd seen the movie Gargoyles and I was a kid so the monsters were real to me 😉. But those smells, intoxicating!!! I cannot find words worthy enough to describe them. I became a Legal Eagle Saver at this campground...I still have my badge somewhere. A friend in high school used to drive us to Lake Pleasant on weekends and we'd hike over the mountain and sit by the water and owls would fly over us, their wing spans were so wide that they would block out the moonlight. And you couldn't see the bats, but you could hear their squeaks and feel their movement in the air around you. There was no greater peace back then. I moved away from Phoenix in 1991, and regretfully I haven't been back. South Mountain isn't the same and Phoenix has developed far, far into what was only dirt and cacti and critters. I wish you could've seen it back then. So magical. The last hike up South Mountain was with my son who was just around a year old. He's thirty-two now and has moved to the ocean, my second magical place. But I'll never forget my desert. Thank you, Neko, for bringing it back to me for a little while. xxx
Neko (& everyone), this sounds weird, but during downhill walking, try landing on the balls of your feet first instead of your heels. It really saves the knees.
I walk like that all the time, it's helped me recover from some severe back problems.
Lovely, Neko. I especially like your grieving groundwater. The imagery of it, not the fact.
A full moon hike, starting at sunset, in deep desert wilderness (like Anza Borrego in California) is a truly otherworldly experience. If you have the opportunity, take it.
Darkness is a resource to be conserved. How do the saguaro feel about the glaring lights of civilization below?
Sounds great. Poles help for the downhills. Speaking of pre dawn hikes, have you done East Mountain in your Northeast Kingdom neck of the woods in late May migration. N. Saw-whet owls and Bicknell’s thrush calling and that creepy abandoned radar US government listening station up top an eery sight at sunrise.
Never been to Phoenix but now I want to go…I was walking home from an event last week and left with another guest, a guy. He was asking about my neighborhood which is generally safe but we were on very quiet, dark side streets and it was approaching 11:00 pm. Also, I had my camera gear with me and din’t want to get jumped for that either. I had to explain to him that there is never a time, as a woman, where I don’t have to think about my safety. Believe me, this guy is NOT someone I would have chosen to hang out with. He was loud, a little drunk and hit in me despite the fact I mentioned my husband and son. Come to think about it, I probably would have been better off on my own-he stuck out like a sore thumb.
As I walk by the great
southern ocean
on Kaurna land in
the ancestors footsteps
I can take with me now
with my folded jacket
straw hat (from WOMAD
do you recall that?)
notions of Neko or rather
her spirit of enquiry
a curiosity for the tides
that ebb and flow
wherever we come and go.
#notapoem
Totally cool, Neko.
He sounds like a dumbass. Trip him and take his water.
A beautiful post.
Cold early morning hikes in the desert will always be my favorite. I like to take a thermos of coffee up a hill and get there to watch the sunrise. Best side of Phoenix by far!
I can only hoped I’m shaped like a saguaro
Welcome back to Phoenix. All the fun creatures come out when it’s dark.
Great stuff. It's nice to hear you counting some blessings.