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.

It rained in Phoenix today. It occurs infrequently enough that I had to look at the column stalk to work out how to use my wipers. Ironically when I first came to Phoenix in 1999 it rained then too.

Todays rain was bemoaned by the Phoenician natives as being totally out of season and more like the monsoons of August. Sydneysiders would not be fish out of water in the local culture here; or most of Australia for that matter. Phoenix's culture is heavily sun drenched and dependent upon easy access to water to drink and swim in.

Phoenix has been overcast, cold and drizzly all day. It is very unseasonal. The photograph below is from my car heading north up the 101 and looking toward the McDowell Ranges.

Normally at this time of day the McDowell Ranges are in stark relief against a bright blue sky and the long shadows of their own peaks.

Ironically the desert sun and heat has created a market for undercover parking which is in short supply. One of my workmates just leased an under-cover site in the parking lot for $40 a month. Apparently this is normal practice to charge for parking under a carport-like tin roof which at least offers some relief from the direct sun.

Last week we squeezed in a sunset walk up Camelback from the Cholla side. This route is an easier and more gradual climb than Echo Canyon though the last section requires clambering over rocks rather than following a trail.

The deep evening red of the sun gives the rocks on Camelback a wonderful hue. It was also interesting seeing how far Camelback cast a pyramidic shadow over the East Valley, past the 101 and onto the Indian Reservations. It is nice to be able to leave work at a decent hour and squeeze something as enjoyable as a hike into the day before the light gives out.

Wandered through the Phoenix Botanical Gardens today. The display is mainly of succulents, desert gardens and desert ecosystems.

One of the surprising displays had an area with a light mesh metal cover. It seems the Phoenix sun is so strong that it can kill many of the cactii that are non-native to the Sonoran Plains.

There was a living art display by an artist that the sun had laid ruin too. It constituted sun flowers and other annuals but the plants were dried out and many of them plainly dead. The living display ultimately is at the mercy of the sun too. Ironically Phoenix has been unseasonably cold lately. Hate to think the half life of that display if Phoenix was up to its normal 100F/40C daily tricks

Patrick Dougherty currently has a display at the Botanical Gardens called Childhood Dreams. I think his work with urban and suburban structures is more interesting but often any construct in Phoenix becomes important for shade and relief from the heat. In this aspect his display was effective. It was a pleasant and interesting place to rest from the beating sun. The inside was more fun to be in than its external aesthetics.

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.

One of the things I loved about Germany was its alt stadt or old town. Every large city you went to would have one of varying sizes, such as Munich's massive one, or Aachen's smaller one. It was great. They were paved and pedestrian friendly; had hotels on their perimeter, and contained plenty of pubs and restaurants inside them.

Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix, has an old town as well. It stretches to the Fashion Center and Waterfront, but is a small labyrinth of road and shops that are pedestrian friendly with plenty of tourist traps, restaurants and bars. We go there a lot.

Phoenix is possible as a major metropolis by the cheap water supplied by the Colorado River. There is a small river that runs through Phoenix, and was the reason for it being established initially, but it was with the engineering from the Hoover Dam that the whole US South West became a viable human urban habitat.

Golf course in Mesa, AZ

Many of the private and public areas are saturated with water; such as golf courses and parks. Water being cheap means that automated irrigation is possible. It is in direct contrast to the Phoenix climate which stays above 40C (103F) often for weeks and months at a time during summer. It is enough to wilt the toughest grasses.

The irony is that these green places are not well patronised. The rough city-hikes with its truer desert landscapes are for more popular. While water is cheap it is still a significant expense, not to mention maintenance upkeep, to maintain a green lawn in Phoenix. Consequently the great majority of houses have a yard which is a mix of rocks and succulents (cactus).

People do put trees and bushes in their yards but they are natives that can handle the harsh environment without undue care or watering. A common adage is that if a tree needs watering when it is mature then it is not worth having in the landscape.

Consequently the trees and bushes are a mix of natives and imports from other water scarce environments such as Australian and South America. The mighty old Eucalypt is a common landscaping tree in the older parts of Mesa and Scottsdale. The newer landscaping style is to mimic the local desert environment which produces stunning suburbans environments in my opinion.

The other problem with automated watering is evaporation. Most sprinkler systems are hopelessly inefficient and leave puddles of water on the concrete, road or gutter. Correct pricing for water would solve this, but then again a market price for water would probably make Phoenix economically uninhabitable.

Evaporating water on park footpath in Mesa, AZ

The green grass style of corporate landscaping is less and less common, mainly being in the older areas of Phoenix such as Mesa. Arguably there has been a rationality change in the last fifty years in South-Western cities like Phoenix where dominance of nature has moved toward attempts at living within the environment. There are limitations though, our urban centers are reliant on cheap energy, water and transportation. I don't see that changing.

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.