Tuesday evening we decided to hike the Echo Mountain (summit) trail on Camelback Mountain. This mountain is in the south part of Scottsdale N/E of Phoenix. VERY BUSY trail as there are not many places that are convenient for hikes in the city.
Nice and green near the trailhead...
Trail is only 1.2 miles to the summit with a 1264' climb to a summit of 2700'........however.....the last half of the climb entails large steps, climbs and crawls over a trail that is nothing but rock piles and small boulders. In the 100+ degree heat, we both agreed that it was one of our most difficults hikes ever...and both of us have been hiking/packpacking extensively for over 25 years...
Here is a picture of the initial ascent at Camelback...this point is mostly steps and decent trail...
The next section, after going across the first saddle, was a very steep incline up a pretty slick sandstone rock section....a metal hand rail had been installed which was neccesary absent climbing gear....
The fence is to keep people on the trail. Apparently there are a number of helicopter rescues here each year as folks try to blaze their own trails and end up in spots where they can't get back down. Per Arizona law (a good law) these folks are then required to pay for their chopper ride! Even though this is a small mountain close to town, there would really be no way to "carry" someone off of the mountain if they are hurt...which probably also generates a few helicopter rescues each year....
Closer to the top were some nice views of the greater Phoenix area
The last 1/2 mile was mostly climing up through rock fields.
chop down the cactus and this could very easily have been the trail....
I put the crackberry away so didn't take any more pics.
Would definitely recommend this hike to anyone in the area with some hiking experience. The trip down is the really difficult part, especially if you are not in the best shape and you are tired....one wrong step or slip and you would quickly come face to face with sharp rocks, wedge your foot and break an ankle, etc...We were coming down as it was getting dark and had to be extremely careful on the way down...
Got back to the hotel to find a nice cool forecast for Wednesday
.....Got out of our meetings at 3:00 and decided to drive 30 minutes NW of Scottsdale to the Cave Creek Recreation area. There were a number of trails here. No large ascents or difficult hiking here, just a nice hike in typical desert conditions. The desert really is a beautiful place. Heat of the day this time....but only 100 degrees as forecast!!
Here is the 1 picture that I took at Cave Creek. That's my business partner in the Pic. In contrast to 50 or 60 folks that we saw on Camelback.....he and I were the only ones on the trail at Cave Creek...and ours was the only car in the parking lot:)
THE END