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mud under the overpass


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Posted by Zonie on September 11, 2022 at 05:03:32

Last night we had a glancing blow from Hurricane Kay. For most of Phoenix the outer rain bands delivered only light rain, but there were some embedded thunderstorms, and I found that part of the west segment of Reach 11 had received almost half an inch of rain. That looked promising. The storm seems to have cooled things a bit. Tuesday afternoon the temperature reached 110°F, but this afternoon the maximum was only 95°F. I figured I might try a mud hike.

There was a promising puddle in the parking lot, and in it was standing a donkey foal. Nearby there was another donkey foal. One was being led by a man and the other by a woman. At first I thought they might be a husband and wife team, but overhearing their conversation, they were talking about what they did for a living, so they clearly didn't know each other very well. Then the man coaxed his foal to climb onto a boulder, so I assumed this was some kind of training session.

I didn't see any other riding or draft animals in the area, just a few other human beings and some wildlife. I found some nice stomping mud puddles on the trails, but off the trail there were hardly any, certainly not any good enough for wallowing. Armored in overalls and a heavy work shirt, I busted through mesquite thickets, and everywhere it was the same--damp ground but no yielding mud, even in the low spots towards which the rain water would have drained.

Had it been winter I might have been content with puddle stomping and thought, "Better luck next time," but with the worsening humid heat I knew I couldn't safely stay out there much longer without a good soaking. Then it occurred to me that I was approaching the HWY 51 overpass. There were pipes draining the rain water from the freeway that directed it to the trail under the overpass, and the overpass itself shielded the trail from the sun there. When I got there I beheld there was indeed a long deep sloppy mud puddle. It wasn't very private, but I made a quick wallow to get cool and soaked. I then wandered around the mesquite thicket and got hot again. I returned to that mud hole and wallowed again. This time I figured my water supply wouldn't last much longer, so I headed back to the parking lot.

With the high humidity and the temperature close to skin temperature, the dry cleanup wasn't working well, and I was still pretty slimy when I got back to my car, but I just left like that and hosed down at home. I did some yard work, but the heat and fatigue soon to the better of me, and I stripped down and went indoors.


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