Day 7+: Biscuits & Gravy and Getting (Very) High

May 23-26, 2023
Flagstaff, AZ

Surprise! We're back! Well, kinda. We're not fully back on trail. I admit I did not anticipate having any more journal entries for this trip since our hike was over. This blog is really more of a trail journal as opposed to a general vacation/travel blog. But we did a cool thing today (May 26) that was worth writing about. But first, a quick synopsis of our escapades since hanging out in Flagstaff for a few days.

I should start by saying that Flagstaff is a super rad town. In another life, we could totally see ourselves living here. There's outdoor gear shops on every corner, incredible food, and tons of great hiking and cycling; it totally fits our vibe.

We spent the last few days enjoying the town (mainly by way of food and drink), spending time at the hotel pool, and doing some day hikes after Glowworm had a couple days to let her blisters heal. So here's the rundown of the things we did while in town. No bullshit narrative, just photos and commentary.

The Food (and Drink)

Brandy's

Our first breakfast back in town and finally got some biscuits and gravy. Depressingly, they don't have biscuits and gravy in Canada which is almost certainly a crime against humanity. Like the UN should absolutely levy harsh sanctions on the Canadian government for not having the world's greatest breakfast dish widely available. It's absolutely criminal. And for you uncultured peameal swines in the Land of Beavers that don't know or haven't had this delicious dish, biscuits and gravy are biscuits (a better, more buttery and greasy version of scones for you British-inclined anglophones) slathered in country gravy. Country gravy is a white gravy (yes, white, not brown) made up of flour, butter, and milk and traditionally seasoned with salt and a generous amount of black pepper. For biscuits and gravy the gravy almost always has crumbled sausage in it which is often slightly spicy. And before you get on your poutine high horse and shit on this scrumptious delicacy, just come over to my house for breakfast sometime. I make a mean biscuits and gravy from scratch (even the sausage).

Anyway. Back to Brandy's. We had biscuits and gravy as you can probably tell. And it was very good. Biscuits and gravy is kind of like tomato soup. It just kinda is what it is. You start adding weird shit to it and it's no longer tomato soup. There's different ways you can make it, but the spectrum of tomato soups is relatively limited. So when you have a tomato soup that's a little creative while retaining its identity as tomato soup and is really tasty, that's a gold mine. Brandy's biscuits and gravy was just like that. The gravy was a little sweet and the sausage cubed and used as a topping instead of being an ingredient of the gravy. It was very good. An excellent example of how to successfully do a spin on a classic, no nonsense dish without making it something it's not. 10/10.

Also noteworthy, they by far had the best Chai Latte in Flagstaff (that I tried), which certainly rivaled my favourite in Nova Scotia at Laughing Whale.

Pizzicletta & Dark Sky Brewery

This was a rad fusion of two different businesses out of the same place. Each with their own servers and own bills. Dark Sky Brewery is known for their short-run, expirimental beers so to make it easy on myself I just did a flight of all their IPAs which turned out to be a mistake. Not because the beer wasn't good. Oh man, it was friggin good. I had a quadruple IPA that tasted like a regular IPA. And that was exactly the problem. 25 ounces of IPAs + a lightweight = an unexpectedly hammered Gummies.

Pizzicletta provided the food and man their wood fired pizzas were outstanding. Fortunately the pizza did not include high volumes of alcohol…to my knowledge.

Tourist Home

A modern take on a diner. I had the chicken and biscuits which was basically a biscuits and gravy with egg and fried chicken. Damn fine. Peppery, spicy, filled my pores. Excellent.

Asia Station

No photo but so good. I had the tonkatsu and Glowworm had the green curry. So good.

Annex

This place is a cocktail lounge with an unreal patio. It's in the shadow of the ruins of an old stone building that's since been partially knocked down. It's so rad.

I had a hot cocktail (temperature not spicy) which was wonderful on a brisk mountain evening while listening to an incredible country/folk artist.

I also got a glass of Eagle Rare 10 Year bourbon. First of all, of all the spirits, bourbon is my favourite. I went to college in Kentucky and it's been my go to every since. My go-to's are Four Roses Single Barrel or Buffalo Trace. Woodford Reserve if I'm feeling something sweeter. I'll buy something in the $100 range if I'm going to treat myself, but you just can't find that kind of variety in Nova Scotia so I don't often get a chance to try new ones very often. And bourbon by the glass in Halifax bars is also limited. So this was a real treat and I wasn't disappointed. I haven't tried a ton of different bourbons in my day, but this was hands down the best. Spicy on the nose and silky smooth on the way down with lovely vanilla notes. Beautiful.

Biff's Bagels & Macy's European Coffee House

Again no photo, but I had a darn good Reuban bagel sandwich and a chai latte from across the street at Macy's.

Fire Creek Coffee Company

Yet again, no photo. But apparently they have really good coffee (I don't drink hot dirt) and a solid chai latte to boot.

Proper Meats

Arizona isn't exactly known as a BBQ hub. It's overshadowed by its neighbour, Texas. But this sandwich shop/butcher by day and BBQ joint by night had the best BBQ I've had in a very long time. The smoked brisket was succulent and the short ribs were so tender that it was hard to keep the meat on the bones. We also got an order of Johnny cakes, which are like pancakes but less sweet and made with cornmeal. They were cooked with green chilies and served with whipped honey butter. Fuck. Me. Up.

Drinking Horn Meadery

I love mead. If you've never had mead before, you're missing out. It's basically fermented honey and has a similar flavour to cider with the ABV of wine. It's delicious. This Viking-themed place right on Route 66 was insanely good. Some very creative meads. Honestly I tried so many that I forgot what they all were but some were spicy, some fruity and they all had cool local flavours such as prickly pear. Highly recommend if you're looking for a non-beer/cocktail drinking spot.

The Hikes

Walnut Canyon

This National Monument was a fairly short hike (by our standards) but included amazing archeological sites of 1000 year old Pueblo cliff dwellings built into the rocky overhangs. Honestly it's astonishing how well built and preserved these dwellings are. The historical insight into the region's indigenous past was impeccable.

Picture Canyon

Another indigenous historical hike. This hike followed along old rail lines used for the logging industry and featured petroglyph carvings in the surrounding rocks. I believe some of these may have been something like 2000 years old. It's insane that you can still make them out!

Humphrey's Peak

So Humphrey's Peak is the real reason I wanted to write today's post.

First a little backstory. On our PCT hike in 2017 I came down with High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) as we approached the base of Mt. Whitney. You can read about it in more detail on days 59 and 60 of my PCT blog, but it was a hugely impactful moment for me. Basically, HAPE is when your lungs become porous and instead of being sacks of air, become sacks of fluid, severely inhibiting your ability to breath. It's caused by exposure to high altitudes. We were at about 10,000 feet or so. Essentially your body is trying so hard to get oxygen that your blood pressure increases so much that it forces fluid through your lungs. The only real way to treat us is to seek low elevation, but the consequences can be fatal.

When I got HAPE in the Sierras, I couldn't walk more than 5 feet without having to stop for 10 minutes to catch my breath. Even something as simple as taking a shit was extremely arduous. Somewhere near the base of Mt. Whitney there's a campsite with a poo under a rock; not good Leave No Trace behaviour, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Despite all of the advancements in medical sciences over the last century, we still don't have a good idea why some people appear to be more susceptible to altitude related illnesses such as HAPE, the more severe High Altitude Cerebral Edema, and the more common Acute Mountain Sickness. Even experienced mountaineers will come down with one of these conditions on occasion.

I spent some time in the hospital recovering and eventually got back on trail, but never got higher than 9,000 feet. In fact, I haven't returned to those elevations since. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just never panned out with the trips we've done over the last several years. But returning to high elevation has weighed heavily on my mind since. My desire to return to the mountains hasn't waned, but it's been accompanied by a heavy dose of apprehension. In all likelihood it was just a rotten set of circumstances that led to me getting HAPE.

Fast forward to today. We had originally hoped to summit Humphrey's Peak, the highest point in Arizona, as a side trip on our hike. Before we even bailed on the last few days of the hike, we had already determined we didn't have enough time to make the side trip so in some ways, having to end the hike early gave us the opportunity to do Humphrey's Peak after Glowworm's feet had healed up.

The summit sits at 12,637 feet with the trailhead beginning at 9,333 feet. We got a Lyft to take us from town to the summit which starts at the Arizona Snowbowl, a ski resort. The resort is actually having its last open weekend this weekend. There was record snowfall this winter allowing the resort to remain open well past it's normal closing date.

The high snow year also affected the trail, which was very reminiscent of our days hiking in the mountains of the Pacific Crest Trail. Patches of snow everywhere, increasing to nothing but snow as we ascended. We brought our microspikes but didn't need to put them on until at about 10,000 feet when there was more snow than dry earth. We started at 8:00 in the morning so much of the snow was still cold and grippy with our spikes on. We had a couple moments of losing the trail underneath the snow, but it didn't take long before we were able to get back on track.

As we ascended I was hypersensitive to anything my body was doing. Was I breathing too hard? Was my wheezing because of the cool mountain air or was it HAPE? Was clearing my throat a sign of my worsening condition? The symptoms of HAPE are abnormal difficulty breathing, a crackling sound in your lungs as you breathe, and coughing up a thin, warm fluid. To the unfamiliar (such as myself on the PCT), it can feel like you're just coming down with a cold. So every step I took, every feeling that I had, I was always checking in with myself to see if any of those symptoms started to develop, which fortunately they did not.

At about the halfway point along the hike, the trail went along the south face of the mountain, showing more patches of dry trail. We could also see the treeline up ahead which gave us hope of the snow breaking up as we got closer to the summit.

Soooo that hope didn't exactly pan out. It wasn't long before we completely lost the trail. The map showed several switchbacks in quick succession. We instead were met with a mountain of snow with footsteps going everything way, particularly just straight up. Meaning: no one had a fucking clue where the trail went. To make matters more...fun, the snow was all blanketed in sunlight making it it soft and mushy instead of hard and grippy like it was in the shade. These snow conditions make everything way more treacherous and stressful.

But it looked like the above treeline ridge wasn't far so we pushed on, probably when we should have stopped. But by the time we scrambled and slid our way to the ridgeline, we only found more snow. We kept going until we got to the saddle (the depression between two peaks) where we could see views on both side of the ridge, but it was evident that the snow wasn't going away for another half mile or so. By this point we were over scrambling and sliding around. It's so stressful trying to avoid a fall every step knowing that there is still a mile yet of climbing. And that's before turning back and returning by the same sketchy route. So we took some photos and made the decision to turn back at around 11,900 feet, the highest elevation I've ever been. No symptoms of HAPE.

The hike down was no less sketch, if not more so. By then the sun had warmed much of the snow, making it slushy and hard to find your footing. Lots of sliding, postholing, and slipping on the descent. Not to mention plenty of trying to find the trail.

After 8.5 hours, we finally made it to the trailhead. While it was a bummer to not get to the summit, I was really satisfied with the hike. It's been six years since I hiked at high elevation like this. Really since I was airlifted in the Sierras with HAPE. It's always weighed on me. Would I ever be able to go back to altitude without complications? Logically I knew it would likely not be an issue. Getting HAPE is extremely rare, but it's not something that's easily ignored after experiencing it. Today's hike lifted a huge burden from my shoulders. HAPE didn't defeat me.

Tomorrow we begin our 17 hour planes, trains, and automobiles journey back to our home in Halifax, just in time for race day. Really looking forward to having a day at home to watch the 500 with a sloppy donair in one hand and a cold Keith's in the other with our bunny by our side once again. Until the next wild adventure...

Slàinte Mhath,
Gummies
(For real this time.)