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Dull blue clouds hung low overhead, making me feel oddly claustrophobic as I tromped along the quiet desert trail. A few city lights glimmered in the west, and below me the headlights of large trucks coming down AZ-87 from Payson would glare then disappear, reminding me that the world is big and…
Driving up to Lone Pine Saddle hasn't gotten any more fun since the last visit. It's been almost two years and the long haul up AZ-87, boring swing down 188, and then bumpy drive up El Oso wasn't missed. At least I had my sister and her boyfriend as company on the drive. We were going to meet…
A cool breeze flowed around me as I stood on the summit of Amethyst Peak. The sun had been up for an hour, barely enough time to warm the earth, and last night's low temperatures still lurked around. Chilled, I pulled out a sweater from my pack and put it on, and then continued to eye up the three…
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…
Cars, trucks, and semis roared out over the desert mere yards away from Ballantine Trailhead. I guess this is the alternative to long, rocky roads that usually prelude my desert hikes; parking next to a busy highway and doing my best to ignore the traffic. Wincing as my shoulders took on the heavy…
Driving to Four Peaks is a dreadful ordeal. There are only two options: El Oso from the east and FR 143 from the west. El Oso is shorter and is in better shape, though to use it you'll need to loop all the way over to Tonto Basin, an annoying seventy miles outside of Mesa. 143 is a much tougher…
Chris and I had already completed two iconic Phoenix hikes: Camelback and Superstition Ridge. It's weird to put those two in the same class, with Camelback a single 1200' climb and the ridge around 5000' of continuous up and down. Anyways, the third iconic hike beckoned to us far to the northeast,…