I hiked up the top of Camelback Mountain. It is a rocky out-cropping in the middle of Scottsdale. The city is in a basin ringed by hard rock mountains. Presumably the left overs of a volcanic range or action. Phoenix has four million in it now, about the same as Sydney, and the suburbs have spread past the inner mountains and are even breaking out past the outer mountain ranges like the McDowell Mountains. Which I live near.

Because Phoenix is so flat and Camelback Mountain so dominant height wise in the city, the summit of the mountain has an unabridged 360 degree view of Phoenix. I photographed this fellow perched on a rock at the summit:

The climb is brutal. It is only about a mile and a half and the elevation is about 2,000 feet; but the gradient is steep and for the last half of the trail it is all rock climbing. There are sections so steep that hand rails have been cut into the rock face and the only feasible way to get up and down is to use them and your hands to keep a solid footing.

My fitness is pretty good, especially for my age, but at about the mile marker I had to rest for ten minutes and eat an apple until I got my breath and strength back. It kicked my ass.

While I was climbing a police chopper came hooning on from the South and perched itself on the rocks, half on and half off style. Apparently a kid had fallen and split his head open. The police chopper was picking him up. I was near the summit when it happened and the chopper was only about 50 yards from me. Some folks at the summit said the pilot was cool hand luke and hovered near the summit, waved to them and then swung off down the mountain.

The other interesting aspect of the climb was people congratulating me when I got to the top. Nice social touch and convention. As people were coming down they were offering encouragement to climbers that were beaten and weary such as, "The top is not far away, you are almost there."

Water could become currency in Phoenix Tank Girl (Rum Corps) style. Every climber had a bottle of water with them. I had two in my backpack. I went through a 700ml bottle of water on the climb. The temperature was only about 87F (31C) which is not really that hot. The Phoenix sun is just a very hot sun as there is no moisture in the air at all. It is interesting when you go into shops at Phoenix the first thing they do is offer you water.

At the summit I asked a bloke to take a photo of me with Phoenix in the background. He had a seven year old daughter with him. When she was him hold the camera she moved infront of me to be in the picture. I must have had a confused look on my face as the bloke burst out laughing and said, "umm ok". The girl realised what was happening and what her father was laughing at and moved to stand next to him. I think he thought I was a tourist, which was ok. He took a good photograph.

When I hike I wear a wide-brim black straw cowboy hat. My skin colour is normally nuclear winter white and I have to tan from pale blue to get to white. So I consider a wide brim hat essential. I am sure I get odd looks because of it. Even here not many people wear wide brim hats. I counted four that I saw. The baseball cap is far more popular. When I was descending and nearly at the end a bloke coming up said to me, "Now that is a nice looking hat." I laughed and thanked him.

The parking lot for Camelback can hold about thirty cars max. Insane considering its popularity. So I had to park about a mile away as there isn't very much roadside parking in that part of Scottsdale. When I was walking back to my car I struck up a conversation with an attractive woman. We chatted until we parted to go to our cars. I think my training in that area is over, I can do it with ease now. I should have been more aggressive and asked for her phone number, or handed out mine (I still have my business cards). But I was enjoying the conversation and didn't think till after. Dumbass. Will make that part of the routine next time.

When I got home I was beat. I went for a swim and soaked in the pool for a while before doing some laps. I uploaded the photos to flickr (you can see them here) and then had a nap for a couple of hours.

I am really enjoying the active outdoor lifestyle Phoenix offers. If I was in Virginia I could have hiked, but not in shorts and a t-shirt. I would also not be swimming in a pool after finishing the hike. When I came to Phoenix in 1999 I knew it was right for me in so many ways. I loved the place. I am sad that it took a failed marriage for me to get here, I am also sad that I couldn't convince my ex-wife in those six years to move here. I was pushing for it constantly. But who am I kidding, even if she was here she would not have come on the hike with me. And if she did, she would have whinged the whole way up and the whole way down. Which is why I hiked with a mate or on my own in Virginia.

Everything is coming up cammo. Rockin'