Conquering the Summits of Arizona

Okay, so we're trying. And by trying I mean that we have done very little hiking, but it's still on our To-Do List. And by list, I mean, well... you know what I mean.

Our son, Zach reminds me (often) that just saying I'm going to do something does NO good if I don't do it. So again... let's go hiking!

Last weekend we headed up to North Mountain. Zach said it was much easier than Camelback Mountain. Well, he said everything is easier than Camelback around here. BTW, Erin and I made it to the heli-pad on Camelback in November, and I was whooped and blistered. My fault that we had to turn around and head back down, but of course there will be a next time.

President's Day and a day off (surprisingly) for Jeff so we headed up the 51 north towards Glendale and North Mountain. It is absolutely gorgeous here in the Valley of the Sun during the spring, but everybody knows that, right? Here's a shot of the lower quarter of the trail - it's slightly rocky with a designated dirt path.

Our trusty Aussie, Wyatt, joined us on this hike! He is the same age as we are (in dog years!)

This moderate hike wore us out as we are supremely out of shape and just getting over cough/colds, but we persevered all the way to the summit. Check out the view from about half-way up the mountain.

We were seeing a bit of an inversion layer over the north valley on this day - some might call it SMOG, but we don't because we're from L.A. where it's really smoggy. 

And... the Summit of North Mountain with the valley beyond. Pretty amazing, right?

I'm so glad we made this a priority and can't wait to keep conquering the Summits of Arizona!!

Check out the website for information on North Mountain right here: http://www.northmountainvisitorcenter.org/

Until next time...
Deb :)