Camelback mountain hike

Week 3 - I hiked the Cholla trail of the camelback mountain.

5 AM - Beep Beep...the alarm rings....time to get up, but I snooze for few minutes. In those few minutes, my brain is thinking, you are crazy to come up with a such a hiking project etc. I fight all those thoughts and hit the road by 5.15. During my 25 minute drive to the mountain the lazy me is trying to convince me that this was such a bad idea.

I started my hike at 5.45 and was happily cruising along the mountain enjoying the early morning weather with gentle breeze. After some time I realized I saw only 2 people going up the trail with me and there were more people coming back from the hike at 6 in the morning :). It took me 1 hr 15 min to get to the tip. First half of the trail is a decently paved trail and 2nd half of the hike is mostly scrambling.

I got to hear some interesting stories during the hike - A 77 year old man hikes the mountain everyday throughout the year. A 70 year old lady hikes another mountain with similar difficult 3 times a week and apparently she started this when she was 65. There are experts who hike up the camelback mountain in 20 min :).

When I got up in the morning I had mixed feelings about my hiking project and it felt so big but after hearing all the interesting stories it felt very miniscule. I am sure the lazy me will always surface me with questions about my project but I am going to stay motivated.

The camelback mountain is located in the heart of Phoenix. The mountain is surrounded by beautiful residential neighborhood. In terms of view, I like the 360 degree views of mountains around the valley. Other than that all you can see is the concrete jungle with some nice golf courses.

After a good 2.5 hr workout I was home by 8.45, just in time for Rishi's breakfast :).

Thinking where to go next!!!