Hiking in December
Valley of the Sun offers some great hikes, both on established, well-marked trail systems and off into the wild desert hills. A group of neighbors has become The Hiking Buddies - two new neighbors visiting from Michigan and one fulltimer (that is what we call people who do not go home in the summer).
On the far side of South Mountain is this hike. It was a tough go in places, and finding a paved road at the summit seemed darned unfair. No one should get this view without earning it!
To get to South Mountain you drive through Ahwatukee, an upscale neighborhood. Proof is this modest home with what I figured to be at least $100,000 in landscaping.
Here is a look at the trail from the air.
The Estrella Sierras is a striking feature laying NE to SW along the southwestern side of the valley in Goodyear. This is a view from my hangar – very inspiring.
The park here offers several hikes. The hiking buddies decided to do the Rainbow trail. Marked as moderate and 4 miles. Moderate! In who’s world? Certainly not ours. Narrow, steep, lots of rocks, and drop offs that made for nervous going. At one point while pausing to catch breath at the top of a particularly tough climb, I asked “which way does the trail go?”.
“There.” Pointed Sharon.
There was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen – nearly straight down.
“Oh no. No way. I’m NOT going down that.” But I did. It was the only way, and retracing our steps back would have been bad. I used this method most of the way down.
At least I could see that the trail leveled out at the bottom, so hell only lasted about 3 hours. Well, it did seem that long. After the fact, all three of us were justifiably pleased with our accomplishment but vowed “never again.”
Ajo is a place I have visited several times. No established trails, just dirt roads in varying conditions that often come to sudden ends. You can park, play and even camp as long as you like. No amenities at all – its wild desert and I love its serenity and plant life.
The White Tanks lay on the northwest side of the valley and run in the same direction as the Estrella’s. Lots of peaks, folds, and ridges offer plenty of opportunity to enjoy wild. With the Hiking Buddies I tried one of the few established trails. Easy and a reward of petro glyphs at the end.
A word about rocks.
Rocks are popular in landscaping here and are sold by the pound. I collect my own, and now have neighbors joining in the pursuit of what we term “Wild Rocks”. I’ve gathered large piles from hikes, drives and yes, even flights. If I can get it in the plane, Path can fly it home!
The reason I bring up rocks as a part of this hiking story, is that hikes pass trillions of wild rocks, and as we start the vow is “no more rocks.” But then one of us sees a really good one, and there we go. Our hikes become major workouts as we carry as much as we can hold.
Looking forward already to next winter and new hikes.