St. Patrick's Day Hike

This week is Erin's Spring Break. Rob and I were both able to take today off, so we had a nice day together as a family! We hiked up Camelback Mountain this morning. I hadn't done it for maybe 10 years, and I've been wanting Rob and the kids to go.

I guess this post is more for people who haven't hiked it, so you can see what it's like up there. The hike up Echo Canyon to the top of the camel's back is only a little over a mile, but it's tough. There are several places where you just have to tackle it hand & foot because you're just scramling over boulders.

You start out going up railroad tie steps for the first 1/4 of the hike, and then it gets steep. It pretty much stays steep after that. The fence below is to keep people from wandering down the mountain to the ultra-wealthy homes below, and to catch those who might slip and fall onto the ultra-wealthy homes below. You can see a handrail in the picture below. There are two spots with handrails.


Going up one of the less-steep handrail spots:


This cliff sort of looms over the trail after the handrail - probably over 100 feet high? The picture doesn't do it justice, so I took one on the way down of the same area.


I put a blue circle in this picture to show where we were when we took Erin's picture... a little better perspective.

This is near the top. Another blue circle around some people to give perspective:

At the top! So I'm the one who thought the hike was such a great idea, and I was the slowest one. I'm in much worse physical shape than the last time I did this!

We remembered to bring binoculars this time, so we got to check out the view for a little bit while we rested. I bought a hydration pack last night, and it was a good investment. Lugging water bottles up there would have stunk!

Erin on the way down. Downtown is on either side of her, right about armpit level. (No offense, downtown) The Estrella mountains are at her shoulder, and 44th Street is coming out behind her calf.

Robbie did great going up, but he was a little nervous going down. It's easier to slip on the way down. Rob hiked with him the whole way down and helped him when he got nervous. He was the littlest kid up there, except for a baby in a backpack carrier.

Here's a picture on the way down, looking at the camel's head.

We only had one minor casualty, and it was just a grand re-opening of a previous scrape. (I think she was a little proud of the blood trail, because several people commented on it on their way past)

We took our sweet time, going slow with plenty of rests, and it took 3 1/2 hours. We'll do it again sometime, but not soon. I'll be feeling this tomorrow!

I'm proud of the kids. They're good little hikers, and this was the toughest one yet. Nobody complained - a little nervousness in spots for Robbie, but they did it whine-free.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!