Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
Located in the eastern Goldfields, a few miles from where that range succumbs to the Salt River and Canyon Lake, the Horns of Dilemma are a scenic pair of spires perched on a ridge that are relatively easy to reach. Well, relatively easy, as they eluded us a year ago when I tried to visit them with…
Coffee is something that has embedded itself into most of my routines, as it has most red-blooded Americans. It started in college with cream-and-sugar concoctions that the thought of makes my stomach churn and has since changed into a purer enjoyment of plain black brews. Nowadays it's a standard,…
When Chris and I talk about going out on a hike together, it always starts with a general idea of where we want to go and quickly devolves into long phone calls with dozens of possible destinations discussed. Weather forecasts, trail conditions, endurance, points of interest, time constraints are…
Driving to the Sierra Estrella Wilderness was a long and boring ordeal. Chris and I had left Mesa at six in the evening, knowing full well that we'd be driving through the night, and as the time ticked by we griped and complained anyways. First there was the traffic to deal with in central Phoenix…
Chris, Kirsty, and I paused on the trail to Brown's Peak for a long breather. It was warm this afternoon, unnecessarily warm for this late in the year, and all three of us were hauling a lot of weight. I was in the lead with a solid fifty-pounds plus (mostly water) and Chris was a close second. When…
Now that Katie is freshly inducted into the cool backpacker's club it only made sense to try out something that I've been playing around with a long time now: a large group outing. Chris and I had gone on adventures, and then Katie and I - why not all three of us? Plus Kirsty, their cousin? Four…
Cool morning temps and comfortable campsites led to a late start from Reed's Water. The sun was up, hiding behind the eastern ridges, before Chris and I even got out of our sleeping bags and began to move around. Plus we wanted to filter water and get back to full water capacity while we had the…
The drive up to Lost Dog Wash Trailhead is around an hour from my house - a bit on the long side when you have two impatient sons squirming in the back of the van. We survived the drive with minimal issues, though, and pulled into the parking lot just before Chris. Preparation took some time, as it…
This would be my fourth time up Camelback Mountain. I had previously braved the crowds of Echo Canyon twice and the relative seclusion of the Cholla Trail once with Chris. He had some friends in town this weekend, some friends who were interested in a desert hike, so we decided to take them on the…
For several hikes now Chris had made the drive down the 101 to meet up with me. It's not a long drive from his place up in Scottsdale, maybe thirty miles to our usual meeting spot in Gilbert, though rush hour can double or triple travel time. To balance things out we decided to aim for a hike closer…