Yesterday Jeff and I hiked to the summit of the highest peak in Arizona, Mount Humphreys of the San Fransisco Peaks. We moved at a liesurely pace and made the 9.6 miles in about 9 hours. There is something about mountaintops that makes me high. I love it up there above treeline.
There were lots of gnats in the lee areas near the summit. Jeff went into the windshelter to get the trail register, and got completely covered in them. As long as you stayed in the wind, the gnats didn't settle too thickly. It was actually balmy enough to hang out in the wind for a while, seeing the curve of the horizon in the distance. Jeff says AZ looks might green from up there. The trail was thick with dust, down below treeline.