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.

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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.