Weather: 79º, sunny
Time: 25.5 minutes
About this Hike: Due to the on-going construction, I parked in the usual residential neighborhood outside the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. Upon arriving at the trailhead, there were signs advising that today is Phoenix Summit Challenge and apologizing for crowds—and of course—any inconvenience.
Hikers everywhere we wearing PSC t-shirts. The gist of this event is to hit a set number of major summits around Phoenix within a limited time frame. I guess Phoenix needs to compete with Tempe's ongoing Ironman this weekend...
Due to the PSC crowd, my feet never touched the summit. I got to the final 'staircase' and the bottleneck was so severe I just paused, enjoyed the views, and headed back down.
PSC hikers seemed a little amateur-ish/out of their element. Some were a bit entitled and didn't observe the best trail etiquette—I imagine because they consider today their event. A Phoenix PD chopper began to hover at one point. "Return to the trail; you will fall!," boomed the voice over the loud speaker. It was quite amusing. I'm guessing some PSC hikers either got lost or felt the need to blaze a new trail.
Regardless, I enjoyed a nice hike overall. I wish we had the same heavy cloud cover of yesterday, but today was brilliant sunshine. It was warm, but not overly so. Just like those off-kilter summers where highs seldom reached 70º when I was growing up in the northeast, so is this winter to Phoenix. I'm fearful it's going to be warm all winter with little relief from the heat. Here's hoping I'm wrong and this will be a winter filled with low-desert Arizona hikes.
Time: 25.5 minutes
About this Hike: Due to the on-going construction, I parked in the usual residential neighborhood outside the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. Upon arriving at the trailhead, there were signs advising that today is Phoenix Summit Challenge and apologizing for crowds—and of course—any inconvenience.
Hikers everywhere we wearing PSC t-shirts. The gist of this event is to hit a set number of major summits around Phoenix within a limited time frame. I guess Phoenix needs to compete with Tempe's ongoing Ironman this weekend...
Due to the PSC crowd, my feet never touched the summit. I got to the final 'staircase' and the bottleneck was so severe I just paused, enjoyed the views, and headed back down.
PSC hikers seemed a little amateur-ish/out of their element. Some were a bit entitled and didn't observe the best trail etiquette—I imagine because they consider today their event. A Phoenix PD chopper began to hover at one point. "Return to the trail; you will fall!," boomed the voice over the loud speaker. It was quite amusing. I'm guessing some PSC hikers either got lost or felt the need to blaze a new trail.
Regardless, I enjoyed a nice hike overall. I wish we had the same heavy cloud cover of yesterday, but today was brilliant sunshine. It was warm, but not overly so. Just like those off-kilter summers where highs seldom reached 70º when I was growing up in the northeast, so is this winter to Phoenix. I'm fearful it's going to be warm all winter with little relief from the heat. Here's hoping I'm wrong and this will be a winter filled with low-desert Arizona hikes.
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