Page banner image

dirt bikers and plinkers


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Wet Clothing Forum - Mud Pit ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Zonie on May 08, 2023 at 04:50:06

Last Sunday afternoon the maximum temperature in Phoenix was 102°F. Today it was a little better--90°F. I wasn't sure there was still mud at coyote central, but it seemed worth the risk. A two mile hike in that weather wouldn't likely be the end of me if I had enough water with me.

When I got to the area a lot of young people--some kids, some young adults, were riding dirt bikes over the ridge. I didn't want to get in their way, so I detoured and entered the depression from the north. The water hole was gone, but there were three much smaller mud pits. I waded through each one, and they were very thick and sticky and about knee deep. This would have been satisfying exercise in winter, but I needed to cool off, so I returned to one and had a wallow, covering as much of my clothing as I could, including my hat. The lower layers of the mud were refreshingly cool. I got up with the intent to continue hiking. A dirt biker pulled up beside me and asked, "Are you all right?"

I said, "Just fine. Did you want to ride through?"

He said, "No, man." As I got up and walked away I overheard him say to someone else, "He was swimming." No, I wouldn't quite call it that.

The ideal mud for keeping cool while hiking would have been thin and runny so that it would cool me by evaporation but not weigh me down much. This mud was thick and sticky. It kept me cool, but it greatly added to my effective weight by clinging to my clothing, Thus I walked slowly and tired easily. I contemplated that this would at least be an incentive not to put on weight, as it was a reminder of what dry hiking would be like if I got up to 400 lbs. or so.

Eventually I stopped hearing the dirt bikes and decided to make my way back to the mud pits. The dirt bikers were gone, and I decided to have a relaxing wallow. It was refreshing, but the solitude didn't last long. An SUV pulled up and some people got out. I didn't know what they wanted to do, but I figured the mud on my clothes was recharged and I would hike some more.

I got out of the pit and climbed over the ridge. On the other side of the ridge I heard gunfire from behind me. Well, that shows what they wanted to do. They were plinkers. Then the rate of fire became very rapid. I can't say I know for certain that it was fully automatic. It might have been several of them rapid firing at once or someone "bumping," but it didn't seem consistent with target practice. I then heard the whistling of several rounds passing over my head.

The ridge was between us, so there was no line-of-sight, but indirect fire with rifles and machineguns is a real thing. It was tried at Vimy Ridge. I doubted they wanted to hurt me, but if they weren't practicing that, they either had really terrible aim so that they couldn't even hit the ridge as a backstop, or they didn't care about having a backstop. It occurred to me that staying in the area wasn't healthy and that if I put some distance between me and them, the likelihood of being inadvertently in a round's downward trajectory would diminish. I headed southwest.

When I got far enough that the firing wasn't terribly loud, I rested in an arroyo. I then heard a noise that didn't sound like a firearm discharge but more like a heavier weapon, perhaps some kind of rocket or grenade launcher, but as there was no secondary explosion it seems not to have had a warhead. Then the rapid firearms fire resumed. They didn't seem to want to stop anytime soon, and they seemed to have no shortage of ammunition. Rather than return for a third wallow attempt, I decided to head back to my car. The hot sun and the dry wind had already mostly dried me.

By next weekend those pits will have dried to the point that they'll be of no use in cooling me, so I have no plans to go back there anytime soon. If the plinkers want to spend all summer turning the area into a lead mine, that's between them and the dirt bikers.

When I got home I hosed down in the back yard by the lemon tree and noticed two things--I had made the vicinity of the lemon tree a muddy mess and the woody shrubs I had to uproot with a pickaxe last year had re-grown. This time I would take advantage of the mud and uproot them with my bare hands. That was quite a challenge and quite fun, and of course when a root gave way under my full strength it splashed me with mud, and I was on my knees in the mud getting to them and crawling through the mud going from one weed to the other. Eventually that was done and I hosed down again.

The overalls had a tear in them, but they had served me well for over half a year, and I figured I'd throw them out rather than launder them. I carried them to the bin and notice my next door neighbor react with a start. She had just come out to walk her dog. She managed an awkward, "hi," and I reciprocated. She was doubtless a little surprised seeing me walking in the alley with muddy underwear and muddy socks carrying muddy overalls to the bin. Well we've been neighbors since 2008. I'm sure she's used to seeing me doing strange things from time to time.




Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comments:

Optional Image URL:

Security Code *
random image
This security code tells us you are human and not a spam robot.


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Wet Clothing Forum - Mud Pit ] [ FAQ ]