Tiny Hiking Wizard in the Valley

Meghna Malatkar who just turned 5 in December 2016 is an avid hiker in the valley. She has accomplished this under the influence of her hiking enthusiastic parents and 9 year old brother. This winter has been a special hiking season for her where she has done a lot of hiking on the weekends and also climbed 3   of the difficult peaks (Camelback, Piestewa, Picacho) in and around the valley which are strenuous even for adults.

Camelback Mountain

Trail – Echo Canyon

Round Trip Distance – 2.3 miles

Elevation Gain - ~1300 feet

The first challenging hike this winter for little Meghna was Camelback’s Echo Canyon trail during 2016 Thanksgiving when she was not 5 yet. Having accomplished Piestewa Peak’s Summit trail in December 2015, she was quite capable of managing this tough hike. She loves scrambling – so the steep sections where there are rods was more fun for her than being scary. It took her 3.5 hours to finish this hike.

Piestewa Peak

Trail – Summit

Round Trip Distance – 2.4 miles

Elevation Gain - ~1200 feet

Meghna started her new year in 2017 with a hike in Piestewa Peak. She was doing this for the 2^nd time, so it was not really a big challenge for her. The only complaint she had to her Mom was that she was the slowest in the whole group of kids aged 8-9 and adults. She took around 3 hours to finish this hike.

Picacho Peak

Trail – Hunter

Round Trip Distance – 4.2 miles

Elevation Gain -  ~1800 feet

On the cold morning of January 22, 2017, Meghna started on the Hunter trail with her parents. It took her a little more than an hour to reach the saddle and it was still a long way to the top. In fact, the park ranger had suggested that getting to the saddle itself is a big accomplishment for kids. Meghna continued the difficult journey after the saddle to the peak. Meghna’s special liking for scrambling made the chained areas of hike not so daunting for her.

Hunter trail - at the trailhead

Hunter trail - at the saddle

Hunter trail – some of the challenging sections 

Hunter trail – some of the challenging sections

On top of Picacho Peak

On top of Picacho Peak

During this long and strenuous hike, Meghna shared with her Mom that it would be so nice if she knew some magic. She would use the magic to go to the top of the mountain and then come down quickly. She would also use the magic to make restrooms on the trailJ.

Meghna took almost 5 hours to finish this hike. Despite the time it took this was quite an accomplishment for her. This trail which is challenging for adults was conquered by a 5 year old.

------------------------------------------------------------

Meghna manages to accomplish such challenging hikes at such young age through her sheer tenacity. It is quite interesting to hear her rate the hikes she has done. According to her Pima Canyon trail in South Mountain is easy, Camelback is moderate, and Picacho Peak is long and hard. The next challenging hike for her is Flat Iron trail in Superstition mountain.

Winter, spring & fall in Phoenix valley is a wonderful time to hike with kids. There are lots of trails with varied difficulty, so we all should take some time out with our family to explore the beautiful desert landscape. Kids like Meghna are a big inspiration for us all.

Vancouver - Grouse Grind

Grouse Grind - 1.8 mile one way, 2800 ft elevation gain

We went for a vacation in vancouver recently. I started looking for nearby hikes when we were planning the trip. Grouse grind particulary caught my attention because of the challenge it offers :)

Sep 7th - I precariously drove to the mountain early in the morning. At the trail head, there is a notice with attention to hikers, which can scare you :). I started the hike around 6.45 am. The trail was kind of dark with all the tall trees blocking the sunlight. I had expected to see more hikers as it seemed to be a popular trail but there were hardly any, may be because it was a weekday.

It was still kind of dim till the 1/4 marker. As the elevation increased, it was getting brighter. Occasionally few hikers would pass by me. I was just going steadily at my pace. The hike was stairs all the way.

Once i reached the 1/2 marker, i felt better and confident that i will make it to the top. I was enjoying the change of scenery, thankfully there was no rain also.

I reached the top of the moutain in 2 hrs. It was surprising that there was no marker stating that you are on the top.

Once on the top, it was a easy ride down on the gondola. It is not recommended to hike down this trail.

It was definitely an achievement for me to do a hike of this difficulty and i was glad that i was in good shape to do :).

Home trail

Telegraph pass in south mountain is my home trail. Whenever i am not prepared in advanced on where to go, I just go and do this trail.

July was a very hectic month - I had cold for sometime, we moved into new place, setting up the place, work was also busy. This was the trail which kept me going and helped me in keeping my resolution despite everything.

Few things which I like about it:

1. Driving time - it just takes 15 min to get to the trail
2. Trail is of medium difficulty
3. Few nice spots to sit and ponder :)

Having done this trail so many times, now i have become a pro at it. Last 2 times, i did not have to take any breaks. I did the round trip in 1.15 min. And maybe this is one of the few trails where i overtake other hikers now and then :).

I am sure i am going to do this many more times :).

Morman trail + Mormon loop in South Mountain

June 26 - Mormon trail + Mormon loop - (5 miles, ~1000 ft elevation gain)

This weekend I was accompanied by 2 budding hikers Madhavi and Shruti.

When my alarm rang at 4.30 AM this morning, as usual I had difficulty getting up but I was also feeling very bad for waking up Maddy and Shruti. But both of them were already up and getting ready to get out. I was impressed with there enthusiasm :)

Our initial plan was to hike mormon trail which is 2.5 miles RT. But when we came across the fork for mormon loop we took that, not knowing how long the loop was going to be. We kept walking and by the time we came back we had hiked for almost 5-5.5 miles. We came back to our cars by 8 AM, it had started to get warm by then and we were glad to be done.

The mormon loop is popular with bikers. It was fun to walk with maddy and shruti, when the trail was flat we were all very chatty :). Towards the end, maddy played some indian music from her cell phone.

Maddy was our leader thru out the hike. Though this was her first hike in USA, she was a pro.

Shruti - the self projected lazy gal did very well and is all excited about doing more hikes :). Way to go :). Her enthusiasm came as a very pleasant surprise :).

Overall it was a good workout with fun company.

Holbert trail - South Mountain

June 19th - Holbert trail + Dobbins Ext (5.5 miles, 1000ft)

This week I had done my research and was all set with the trail I wanted to hike.

I hiked holbert trial in south mountain. This is is a nice trail. It starts out flat but then gradually starts picking up elevation. This trail provides good workout.

Here are some details on the trail:
The trail heads north to the Gila Range over a rumply bajada terrain. Hikers should watch for petroglyphs on a boulder at mile 0.7. After momentarily joining the road at mile 1, the trail starts a climb up a scenic canyon with unique geological features — a rock cave at about mile 2, and an unusual formation at mile 2.2 near the Dobbins Extension Trail. The Trail ends at the National Trail where it looks at panoramic views of central Phoenix and of San Juan Valley to the west.

Directions
Take baseline exit on I-10 (take a left) and take a left on Central ave
Just 5-10 yards after you pass the park gate, turn a hard left into the Activity/Visitor's Center. The Activity/Visitor's Center has a fairly long parking lot. On this parking lot, drive east till you see some ramadas and some concrete buildings (restrooms).

Challenge to find challenging hikes

I was not very satisfied after my Pima Canyon hike. It got me thinking.

What makes a hike challenging for me - elevation gain. I have a sense of achievement when I climb a mountain vs walking on flat trails. The distance does not give me the kick.

One constraint I need to work with is time, I dont want to spend more than 30 min on driving every week to reach a hike, so that does not leave a lot of challeging hikes around.

We have Camelback, Piestwa peak and South Mountain. These places have trails where you gain around 1000 ft in 1-1.5 miles which currently is challenging enough for me.

Also I prefer to do different trails,. Though here in phoenix, any trail is desert classic :), not much variation in terms of views so I think I will just focus more on getting a good workout.

Looks like I would have to hit these trails again and again to keep myself satisfied. I might time myself against these trails on subsequent trips to make it more fun.

Any other ideas out there?

Pima Canyon Exploration

Jun 13 – Pima Canyon (3.5 miles, ~300 ft gain)

I had a hard time getting up today morning, I was almost about to give up or thinking about alternatives. Rishi kept us awake till 12 am y’day night and I did not get enough sleep on Friday as well, so getting up at 5 AM was just impossible today. Finally I dragged myself out of bed at 5.45 am. I was so low that I called a friend in east coast to get some boost from her, but she was not available :(.

By the time I left home it was already late to find a parking spot at the popular trails (Camel back, Piestwa). I went to Pima Canyon (part of south mountain) which is 15 min drive from our place. Once there I wanted to do a different trail then what I had done earlier. The trial map was very confusing for me - the credit goes to my direction sense and map reading skills :). I just picked one of the trails and started walking on it. The trail just goes through a series of hills. It was like a walk in the park with some elevation change through out.

I had no particular goal on how long i wanted to walk, so i just walked for 2 hr. I know that I hiked in Pima canyon west loop area.

Pima canyon is a very easily accesible park for chandler/ahwatukee residents. The park is very popular with mountain bikers, runners and lot of hikers as well.

Today was not a satisfying day - I did not have a challenging trail or a specific destination. I reached home wanting more :).