The Test: Camelback

Prior to hiking the Grand Canyon (yes, I've done it three times before), there is a "test" to pass. Camelback is a good way to get an idea of elevation change, carrying the backpack weight up said elevation, and endurance in heat. The idea is to hike up Echo Canyon, over and down Cholla. This isn't a long distance, just under six miles (which includes surface streets back to the car). The challenge is nearly the 1,500 feet up and then back down.

Echo Canyon is a steep trail requiring boulder hopping. Well, boulder hopping for the younger group. I did that years ago, but now it's more like boulder crawling with my older, short legs. Not sure the grandson thought I would make it, but I did. And he was patient with my boot-scootin' routine. I was impressed with his ability to navigate the steep grade without any trouble.

The view from the top is always gratifying. It is also surprising how limited the available space is at the top considering the number of people who traverse the mountain every day. 

The temperatures were around 90 degrees with full sun and yet some people didn't carry water, or only a single bottle. We carried our full Grand Canyon supply of water and were ready to share with anyone in need. We noticed a couple others doing the same. 

After a light snack and brief rest at the top, we ventured down the mountain via the Cholla Trail. Less rocky, a little longer so it is less steep, especially the last half of the trail. The picture has arrows pointing to various hikers along the Cholla Trail. This was the easiest part. The Cholla also has spectacular views of golf courses located at The Phoenician and The Royal Palms resorts.

Rather than going back up and over the mountain, we opted to walk surface streets back to Echo Canyon trailhead and our car. Temperatures were creeping into the 90s and my legs were stressed enough. I think the grandson could have done it so hats-off to him. He's totally canyon ready. I will work on the legs. That said, there are not the large boulders to climb over at the Grand Canyon. It is the distance (18 miles) and elevation (5,000 down/4,300 up) that are the challenges. We will be ready.

Camelback (Echo Canyon to Cholla Lane)

We're three weeks away from hiking the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim. We thought we'd mark the milestone by hiking a Phoenix landmark, Camelback, from end-to-end.

We started at Echo Canyon hiking up the Summit Trail (1.2 miles long, elevation 1,264 feet) and going down the Cholla Trail (1.5 miles long, elevation 1,200 feet).  Then we walked the 3.1 miles (on city streets, thank you) back to our car.

We completed this odyssey in four hours. Impressive considering it took us nearly five hours a few weeks ago to go up/back on the Cholla Trail. Of course that also involved a picnic at the top and we had the dog with us.

We knew hiking Camelback was extremely popular but we underestimated just how popular. The park hours are from sunrise to sunset. Trying to beat the crowds, we got to the trailhead around 6:30 a.m. Not early enough. The line of cars waiting for a parking space at the trailhead was already eight deep. Fortunately, there were enough people FINISHING their hikes that we had a parking space in about 25 minutes. That was good. (Note: when we were leaving, the parking had overflowed to residential streets a half mile and farther from the trailhead; very popular.)

Immediately the Summit Trail is a climb.  This is definitely not a trail for the novice or the visiting tourist who isn't in shape. The trail goes up between a butte to the north and the camel's head to the south, skirting the north side of the camel's head (see the yellow line on the picture at the top - click picture to make it larger to see details) as it continues to ascend to the camel's neck.

As you get through the canyon, a fence appears along the north edge of the trail. This fence is to protect the homes below from falling rocks dislodged by the hikers. There is a great deal of hiking traffic on the popular trail and the homes are built into the side of the mountain so the risk of rocks damaging homes or hitting people is understandable.

Two places along the trail there are hand rails installed to help navigate the steep grade and slippery rock. These handrails were very helpful on the way up, however, their presence on the way down would seem even more beneficial. We saw one obviously experienced hiker slide down the handrail with proficiency and great speed.

Camelback is an interesting point of reference in the Valley.  From most of the East Valley, especially to the south, the mountain looks more like an "old man" with a bit of a belly who's laying on his back taking a nap. On the north side, the kneeling camel is more easily identified. The Praying Monk at the nose of the camel is also visible.

When we got to the saddle, or neck of the camel, we saw the back of the camel's head. Hum. OK, that just looks more like a big sandstone butte than a camel's head.  Oh well, it was interesting to see another view.


Looking north towards Paradise Valley from the saddle (picture on left), we could see the head and surrounding buttes to the left, their sandstone red a distinct contrast to the brown/black of the granite that makes up the "back" of the camel on the right side of the picture. In reading, we learned that it's believed the camel's hump is actually significantly older than the head. Interesting to think about what the area looked like with the big granite mountain there for years before the sandstone arrived and the camel came to be.

This is, as I mentioned earlier, an extremely popular hike. We started on the trail about 7:00 on a Saturday morning. We encountered an almost continuous stream of hikers on the trail. This was also true when we hiked Cholla Trail a few weeks ago. In our hiking experience, we've also encountered several hikers on the Peralta Trail and Siphon Draw in the Superstitutions, but Camelback gets the prize for being the most popular.

The other prize for Camelback is the landscape. During this hike, the Saguaro and Prickley Pear cacti were blooming. It's humorous and intriguing to me how such a dangerous plant with long unforgiving thorns can produce the most delicate flowers.  The picture to the left shows the view to the south of Scottsdale. Visible are the Saguaros with their tops in bloom.  Close-ups on the Saguaro and Prickley Pear blooms are below.

At the top of the camel's back where the trail changes from the Summit to the Cholla, Papa and I stopped to rest, enjoy some refreshments and take in the view.  We only stopped for about ten minutes. During that time, a low flying helicopter approached the peak causing us and other hikers to wonder if it would land to rescue an injured hiker (a fairly common occurrence I'm afraid). The helicopter just circled the peak and then flew off, actually descending as it headed north. I think that's the first time I saw a helicopter flying and I was above it.

The descent down Cholla Trail was uneventful and swift. We made the descent in less than 45 minutes with only brief pauses to provide courtesy yields to other hikers. Since our descent at the canyon is 17 miles, we were encouraged and will plan on about 2.5 mph on the descent which will enable us to take the side trips to Roaring Springs and Ribbon Falls. Hope that works out!

Once we reached the trailhead, we had two options.  1) Back up Cholla over the camel's back and down Summit to the car and the trailhead on the other end or 2) walk the city streets back to the Echo Canyon (Summit) trailhead.  We opted to save the knees and walk the city streets about 3.1 miles to the car. Glad we did. By the time we reached the car four hours after starting, the temperatures were into the 90's and the beautiful clear skies meant the sun was bearing down with desert force. We were ready to go home.

Once home, Nana rested for a bit and then took off on the bike for an 8-mile roundtrip to the grocery store. Yard work, house work, laundry round out the weekend along with some reading. We hope the weekend ends as it began, with the Phoenix Suns defeating the San Antonio Spurs to wrap up the series. If not, the Sun are back in Phoenix on Tuesday.  Go Suns!

A good active week:  Papa got in 16 miles on the bike plus this hike.  Nana biked 43 miles for the week, including the grocery run, plus the hike.

Oh, and a follow-up with the doctor proved that Nana doesn't have asthma. Looks like it might just be a small lung capacity; trying to decide if it's worth the referral to a pulmonary specialist the doctor is recommending. Hum, we'll see. The blood tests came back and everything's good so Nana and Papa have now each received their clean bill of health to pursue the R2R adventure.

Biking, walking and a little gym/weight time will be our focus for the next three weeks before we tackle item #1 on our joint Bucket List. Stay tuned.

Camelback - Cholla Trail

After last week's climb and the resulting sore thigh muscles, which took a few days to recover, Papa and I were a little concerned about doing another "strenuous" trail again. Camelback, the Cholla Trail, is about 1.4 miles and 1,280 ft. one way. The first part of the hike isn't too bad. The second part has climbing involved but not as vertical as Flat Iron.

Star went with us on this hike. This is the most challenging hike that she'll probably do. She did great on the way up but had a couple stumbles on steep sections going down. As a result, our normally black dog was very brown by the time we got home requiring an immediate bath. Today, she's a very mellow dog, resting from her adventure.

First, some observations:

• The Cholla Trail is extremely popular. Since we stop with the dog whenever we meet people (as a courtesy since some people aren't real dog friendly), we made very frequent stops, so hiking was slow. 
• It was also pretty windy in sections which provided nice relief from the heat. 
• We were very amazed at how many people we saw with ONE bottle of water for the hike. The more we hike, the more we understand the rescue stories in the news; people do not respect the mountains/desert.

The first part of the hike is relatively easy. This would be rated a "moderate" hike up to the saddle. There are steps but they can be handled without hiking poles or scrambling. From the trail the Phoenician Resort is visible on the south side.  (remember, click on any picture to see larger view/more detail)

The open area at the saddle provided views of ASU, Papago Buttes, downtown Phoenix to the south and Paradise Valley and mountain ranges to the north. The views are really spectacular.

As we looked up the trail, the grade appeared to increase but it didn't look far to the crest so we continued. What we didn't realize, since this was our first attempt at Camelback, is that there is a ridge that hides the final crest.  The ascent between this ridge and the top is the steepest ascent with a couple short, 2-3 feet, vertical climbs.

We did it. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the top and soaked in the views. Star was very happy to share a little of our sandwiches (we'll remember to bring her treats in the future) and just relax. This was a perfect outing for her.  (yellow area in the back of the picture points to the Superstition Mountains and where we were last week)

One of the best things about hiking is the people. We met people from all over the country and shared wonderful stories. Our round trip took us nearly five hours but we probably had an hour at the top and spent a lot of time talking with people whom we knew or just met along the way. What fun!

The people, being outdoors and getting exercise are what Papa and I enjoy about hiking together. The reward, however, are the views. This is a composite picture of the view to the west/southwest from the top of Camelback.

Click here for this week's video of our hike. Remember to change to 720p in the lower right section of the You Tube screen, for a better quality video.

Today, the day after the hike, Papa and I are not feeling any discomfort. That is encouraging. We still have 10 weeks...or ONLY 10 weeks...until the Grand Canyon R2R hike. We are confident we will be able to do the hike. We've researched the corridor trails and confirmed they do not involve any vertical climbs, just challenging grades/switchbacks. All we need to do now is increase our aerobic capacity and keep up the training. We will continue to hike each week and, as we have last week and this, will carry the full packs we will use in the Canyon to get accustomed to the extra weight.

Next week we relive the greatest hiking challenge of our lives. Four years ago on Palm Sunday, Papa and I set out to do a loop hike in the back country of Superstition Mountains. Star was a pup and went with us. We ran out of water, Star refused to continue and we had to carry her, and we got lost. We finally got back to our car with just a sliver of daylight on the horizon and no flashlight with us. It was as close as we ever want to come to a hiking disaster. Next week, we will retrace our steps...without Star, with much more water, better map/compass, and starting earlier in the day with our headlamps. We will conquer our greatest challenge to date. Check back next week!