At Seven Sacred Pools, with Ciela

At Seven Sacred Pools, with Ciela
Originally uploaded by shermans.

Hiking on Friday with our niece from Chicago. We got rained out in the morning, getting wet but just missing getting soaked. We waited out the storm over lunch, and then hit the trail in the afternoon. We hiked up Soldier's Pass Trail, hitting Devil's Kitchen sinkhole, the 7 Sacred Pools and then a scrambling up hill to the arches--which Ciela and I didn't see because the last 30 yards or so were a bit too scary for us.

I carry Ciela most everywhere we hike, and she is an exhausting burden. At Sedona, I was worried about an ankle sprain from Wednesday's soccer practice*, and had to use Judy as my help-monkey to get down the steep parts of the path. We aren't taking her out into the wilderness for any particular noble, child-rearing philosophy. We want to hike, and we cannot afford a babysitter. So up and into the pack she goes. Yet, I do hope that she appreciates the experience on some level. I'm betting that seeing Cathedral Rock or Devil's arch after an hour long trek through woods does something to the formation of her neuron pathways that the Teletubbies just can't match.

* For those of you keeping track at home, I scored last night. Picked up the rebound from a free kick and beat the goalie to the far post. It would've been the go-ahead goal had we held them off for the last 15 minutes. But they equalized, and we settled for a draw. Sadly, this was the battle of the bottom, but the draw kept our slim lead--Team X, second to none? Hardly. Second to last.

A quirky byproduct of our ineptitude: I am our leading scorer with three goals.