#4 HIKE CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN
Why did I include this on my Bucket List?
Of course, I've heard a lot of people talk about hiking Camelback Mountain and I wanted to experience it for myself. Plus, I really wanted to do more hiking this year, so setting my sights on one of the tougher hikes in the area was a sure fire way to get me out there on the trails in preparation.
Was the experience what I had hoped it would be?
I'm not going to lie, it was definitely a tough hike, but it wasn't what I expected. I think I expected the hike to be a straight uphill climb for miles and miles, when in reality it isn't that long of a trail. I felt like the difficulty of the hike came from the terrain as opposed to the climb itself, since a large majority of the trail is nothing but navigating huge rocks. That being said, it felt great to set a goal for myself and reach it and I'm really glad I did this hike.
The details...
Kevin and I went to hike Camelback Mountain early this morning, hoping that the trail would be less crowded on a weekday. When we started out, it was very humid (for Phoenix) and the sky was nothing but clouds. We even felt a few rain drops early in the hike, but by the time we reached the top the sun began to peek out and the sky started to turn a gorgeous blue.
While we were sitting at the top catching our breath and taking in the view, a fellow hiker started chatting with us. We ended up sitting there talking to him for about 45 minutes. He was a really great guy who had a lot of experience with the local trails. I really enjoyed connecting with a fellow hiker, and it was definitely the highlight of the hike for me. I even told him that I was hiking Camelback as part of my Birthday Bucket List, which I described to him. He seemed to really like the idea of what I do with my smaller, obtainable bucket lists each year and even offered me a suggestion of an item that I'm going to put on next year's list.
Of course, we snapped a handful of photos with my phone...
Do you want to see my entire 2013-2014 Birthday Bucket List? You can find it here. Did you miss my 2012-2013 List? You can find it here. Or my 2011-2012 List? You can find it here.
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