Hike to Flatiron, AZ

I and Alphonse went down for breakfast at 06:30 with the hope that we get to the trail-head of our hike not very late. As usual the breakfast at BW was horrible and as usual Alphonse ate a lot which would affect him during the hike later! It was a cloudy day in Lost Dutchman State Park, in contrary to what I had experienced a little less than 4 years ago. We paid the admission and hit the trail. It was not very bad at the beginning but then the fog fell on us and Alphonse started to fall behind! I don't remember how many times I had to wait for him to reach me, but it was several times and I also had to answer his question " How do I get there? "! Many came and caught up with us! That not only was very frustrating but also very humiliating!  There has barely been any hike that I let the people pass me, even the ones who were years younger than me!

When we reached the summit, which I hope it was the summit(!), it was very foggy and we barely were able to see a few feet away, let alone the view of the surrounding area. We only took a few photo which are not worth here but instead I post this one which shows the magnificent cactus of Arizona.   

The fog then turned to light showers and that turned the trail, which is mostly, perhaps 99%, made of rocks and big boulders, to a very slippery path. We reached the summit which basically is a vast flat area, after almost 03:45 hours! We spent about 15 min. there, took a number of photos and then headed down. It was foggy all the way to the bottom of the mountain and also it become crowded. The problem, again, was Alphonse's lack of confidence and ability in route finding. He was way behind and at times would sit on his ass to just get down a rock! At one point, when I was talking to a group, I looked up and he was laying on the rocks! He apparently had fallen! The return simply just was a bigger disaster! When we were at the parking lot again he was shaking and barely able to move. My situation was not way better than him, tough! I was tired and my right foot was in pain! We ate some snack and headed back to the town. On the way back I asked him to stop by at a McDonald's so I can get ourselves a couple of cups of coffee. There're differences between McDonald's in the US and Canada. The shape, size and design of cups is different. You get your 7th coffee for free in Canada and that's after attaching the label to a card and presenting it to the cashier at the counter. In the US it's digital. So I couldn't use it. We both were very tired and just wanted to rest before going for a supper. 

Based on my experience if you're going to do Flatiron, like any other mountain, the time of the year is a factor. In March it was dry and hot. In January it is dump and slippery. Besides that because of the fog you cannot see much from top but in both ways it's a good hike and worth doing. For a hike which should be normally done in almost 5 hours in total, I guess we spent a total of 7 hours, at least and that of course was because of Alphonse! I'm not mad at him or anything and I didn't even mention that to him but it was him, after I suggested the hike, who said that he had been exercising and felt good to do any hike! I guess he cannot determine his body situation and that, for an athlete, even an armature, is not good!
(Photo: This picture, taken on the way back, shows what the weather looked like on our day of hike. Everywhere was beautiful though! No complain! Today, when we were leaving Arizona the entire Phoenix area was sunny without even one single cloud in the sky!)