Phoenix has city hikes which are large out crops of rock in the city and its surrounding suburbs. They are now public land and an entwined part of the culture to hike them. Camelback and Squaw Peak are the most vertical of the city hikes. They are tough.

It has been nine months since I was separated though I am still not divorced yet. I started to refocus on the my fitness and body in August of last year; partly to take my mind off what was happening, but also the fear that I may not be competitive if I had to go on the singles market again. Since then I have dropped my body fat to below 12% and now look like I did in my early twenties.

I did Squaw Peak this morning and after nine months of gym/fitness training I have pretty much conquered it. I went up it fast without a loss in stride or over-laborious breathing.

I am pretty proud of what I have achieved. It is not so easy doing it with a thirty seven year old body that is still carrying dents and weaknesses courtesy of playing Australian Rules when a youngster.

However I went up Squaw Peak a little too easily so I suspect I have progressed beyond that as a challenge. I think I am going to have to look to something physically more difficult; maybe a half triathlon, or something of that nature that I will have to train myself for in order to not embarrass myself.

I went up Squaw Peak as a late evening walk on Sunday night. Since summer is here now the days are getting longer and longer, so a 6.30 hike on of the city walks is not a big deal.

But even with the brighter evening the police choppers did a run across the mountain to make sure the weekend hikers were ok and no-one was stuck, or had fallen. This happens occasionally; just last weekend a hiker fell off one of the Papago Buttes and died. It was in a difficult enough spot that the body could not be recovered until the next day when the sun rose again.

I have been on Camelback when a police chopper has landed and taken an injured child away to safety. Apparently the kid had fallen and split his head open. Between cell phones and helicopters the child was quickly lifted to a local hospital. It caused the large numbers of hikers to stop and gaze at the skill of the pilot handling the chopper as he landed in an area that was pretty small.

Last year as my marriage obviously broke down I would travel out to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia and hike the mountain trails. It got me out of the house for several hours, left me to my own thoughts, and placed me in a very beautiful natural environment.

Sunrise over the McDowell Ranges

In Virginia you have to travel to a trailhead. They are not close, being generally outside of the suburbs by forty five minutes to several hours. Phoenix is the opposite. The trails are integrated into the city itself; whether Camelback, Squaw Peak or South Mountain. The northern mountain range is the McDowell's.

Phoenix has only really started to reach the McDowell Ranges in the last ten years so they are not as criss crossed with paths as the city hikes and South Mountain are. They are also behind a national park and a consequent fee of $6. Not a big issue, I used to pay to hike at Harpers Ferry as well.

Tall saguaro cactus

I am not sure if being behind a national park means that it is better conserved, it is less traveled, by humans though, not horses. The entrance to the park is on the eastern side of the mountain range which makes it inconvenient from the city side.

Either way the biggest Saguaro I have seen was in the McDowell Ranges. That is me at six foot one in the blue shirt.

We hiked Humphrey's Peak this long weekend. It is 12,500 feet and now officially the highest I have been on this planet. I have hiked to the top of Kosciusko, but that is only 6,500 ft or so. I have driven up to Vale in Colorado, which was high, about 10,500 ft if I remember correctly, but hiking four and a half miles up to the top of Humphrey's Peak is more difficult.

The lower part of the climb is in lush and wet pine forests but slowly it starts breaking into thinner and thinner trees as the altitude increases until finally you are above the treeline and exposed entirely to the wind and elements. I didn't have an issue with the rare oxygen until we got to the last half mile and we had to stop twice as my breathing got shorter and shorter. I got dizzy spells and head aches but after a short rest my breathing returned and I was right again.

At the top was a memory box of some kind where people put ephemera into. I put five dollars in it. We will see if it is there when we return. The hike down is not an issue but I managed to sprain an ankle lightly on the way down, so it became a bit of a grin and bear it descent for me. The sprain is light and will stop me from working on it at the gym but not enough to put me on crutches. It is an artifact of playing Aussie Rules as a kid that my ankles are weak from multiple sprains and breaks. I have sprained my right ankle five times, my left ankle four times and broken my right ankle once. Not good for getting old with grace.

We stayed overnight at Sedona before getting stuck in the long weekend traffic on the way back to Phoenix. That city is so like Sydney is so many ways.

This morning myself and two guys from work went up Camelback at the crack of dawn doing the Echo Canyon Trail. That is the hardest of the Phoenix city trails as it is about a mile and a quarter and a 1200 ft vertical climb.

Dewayne is an Oracle consultant from Alabama working with us and he expressed interest in doing the A-Mountain which is tiny in comparison. We managed to talk him into doing Echo Canyon which is far more strenuous. When Dewayne got to the summit he did a Rocky style celebration with his arms in the air that ended with him jumping up and down and throwing his water bottle up toward the sky. I caught his celebration on camera.

It was a fun hike. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We did the Tom's Thumb Hike on the northern side of the McDowell Ranges though we accessed the rock formations from the western side, rather than the north eastern trail-head. The hike was about twelve miles in total and took us four hours to complete. The rock formation known as Tom's Thumb in the picture above is at about 3500 feet. Getting up to it is pretty strenuous, there are a mountain's worth of switch backs to get to the ridge that leads to the rocks.

It was good challenging hike.

Bell Pass is about a three and a half mile hike the pass itself in the McDowell Mountains. The round trip from start to finish is about seven miles and takes somewhere from two hours to three hours depending how fast you do it. Bell Pass is at 3,500 feet and has a fairly steep ascent in the last part of the trail.

Trail Heads and Parking

Bell Pass has two trail heads. The trail head at Bell Rd and 104th St has a small graded dirt area for parking. It holds about fourteen cars maximum and can become crowded during the peak periods in spring and fall.

The larger main trail head is on Thompson Peak Parkway and Foothills Drive. This has a facility with toilets and drinking water. There is ample parking there as well, some paved, mostly finely graded dirt.

Hike Distance

Approximately seven miles from Bell and 104th St.

Hiking Time

Two and a half to Four hours. If you are very fit you can get to the pass within an hour.

Hike Elevation

3,500 Feet.

Hike Difficulty

Moderately difficult for experienced hikers. This can be a brutal hike in summer. Always bring plenty of water.

Trail Description

From Bell and 104th the trail goes up 104th St for a while before hitting the Levee Trail. You follow the levee up until it meets the main trail. From there follow the signs to Bell Pass. From Thompson Peak and Foothills the main trail is followed from parking area.

The trail itself slowly ascends up to Bell Pass at 3,500 feet. The scenery is stunning with centuries old saguaro's, fishhook cactus, cholla's and wildlife crowding the mountain sides. The last mile or so the ascent increases considerably and the last 200 yards is very steep.

We have seen mountain bikers on the trail but it isn't that often bike riders are on it. Probably because the trail is pretty strenuous in ascent.

Trail Map

Bell Pass on Google Maps. More on the McDowell Regional Park including trails and maps.