the high trail

Yesterday, I set my alarm for 5 am to catch Saori on her lunch break, and I got to chat with her for a few minutes before she got called away by her boss. I did end up making the most of the early morning, sending off some more applications.

I also went hiking up into south mountain. I walked over to the 24th street trailhead made a big loop ending up at the Heard Pueblo Scout Camp on 18th street. It's a fun trail, but tiring. The start is easy and the slope not too severe, and crossing the hidden valley is gentle up and down. Once you split off the national trail though it gets more interesting. There's more clambering over large boulders, a rock tunnel, and then when you split off that trail to hike up a trail unmarked on the official park maps, but interestingly, does exist in Google maps. I can understand why.

This is a poorly marked trail, very crude, and very challenging with a lot of boulders. However, it takes you up to another really challenging trail along the ridge line of the Guadalupe range, which are some of the highest points of the park. The trail is really for people who are fit and able to scramble since the trail leads up boulder piles and across some really rough terrain. The views though, are spectacular. From the highest point on the trail, you have a view which encompasses all of the valley from WNW all the way through due W, Laveen through Glendale, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, and Ahwatukee. The hiking is easier coming down when you join back up to the national trail, which takes you to the Buena Vista Lookout where there's parking. From there, its a nice little hike down the Geronimo Trail which I took down into the Scouts camp, the last quarter mile of which is very steep.

Getting through the mountains took me about three hours. It's a six mile trail, so I was averaging a mile every 30 minutes, and that was only because I walk pretty briskly though the flatter, easier portions of the trail.