Am I a Chatty Cathy doll?

 This morning I caught up with a young Swiss couple, Stefan and Elisa. They are very experienced hikers, but they are not used to the heat and terrain of the southwest. So they had some questions about the trail, esp. whether it was safe to descend below 3 mile rest stop when thunderstorms are predicted for the afternoon. We hiked together to this stop. I learned that on their vacation they have been to San Francisco and Sequoia NP, and on the way back they will see Zion, Death Valley and Yosemite. Stefan is a software engineer for a data security firm. He said that AI coding assistants are making coding less satisfying, because his job now involves fixing bugs in AI generated code. Since he used the phrase "AI slop," I recommended John Oliver's AI Slop episode on youtube.

On the way up I saw Jane, the 70 yo mega backpacker. While camping at Havasupai Gardens she had hiked the Tonto west trail to Horn Creek. I have done this hike before. We both love the Tonto trail, which meanders around side canyons on a plateau 1500' above the river.

Okay, I know my half dozen followers are eager for strange encounters like the woman that left her husband behind. Yesterday I heard a guy become fixated on this emergency phone by the 1.5 mile rest stop.

He said to the woman he was with: Did you see the phone? lt's like an antique, with a handset and wires and everything. They must have run telephone wires all the way down here for this antique phone, when everyone is carrying a cell phone. They did! See the little pole with the wires? I wonder if it even works. Maybe they left it for historic interest. Did you try opening the door? No? Look, it's easy. Now I can open the box inside. (Dramatically) I am not going to pick up the receiver, because it might initiate a call. 

In contrast, today an Asian family noticed a wildlife camera by the side of the trail. They tried to guess what it was; then a woman walked up to it and read from an explanatory card, so everyone could hear. I know the card basically says that it's not a toy, it's very important for tracking wildlife, it's US government property, so don't F with it and have a nice day.