do ten hikes near my house

Tonto Natural Bridge State park is a bit out of Payson, Arizona. No very long hikes to be had, but some neat waterfalls and the bridge, plus the clean mountain air is a good departure from Phoenix.

We climbed Weaver’s Needle in the Superstitions via hiking the Peralta Trail and then bushwacking along the climbers’ trail to the needle. It’s a fantastic multipitch climb – not hard, not too strenuous, great views.

One more to go – I should probably do something that’s actually in town like Camelback.

We hiked up the Siphon Draw Trail in Lost Dutchman State Park (Arizona) on Memorial Day. If you head all the way through the draw you can scramble up to the Flatiron, a landmark of sorts near Phoenix, but we started late in the day and didn’t feel like anything particularly strenuous. Neat hike, lots of people, and we’ll definitely head up to the Flatiron when the weather is cooler. I’d like to explore the Superstitions more for sure… though again, when it’s cooler.

For personal reference: that’s number seven.

I found a little book of 24 day hikes in Utah (near where I live!). I’m going to pick some out and start blocking out dates, requesting time off of work, and getting out to hike. My soul LONGS for the wilderness. And the weather is gradually getting warmer. I need to do this.

I’ll probably give it another couple months for all the snow to melt, but Utah is LOADED with close hikes. I’d love to get into better shape so I can start doing more with the natural resources right in front of me!

We hiked this yesterday instead of Humphreys, since thunderstorms were threatening our peak attempt. This was nice and shady with several stream crossings and red rock walls all around us. Not a strenuous hike at all and it was actually so crowded that you never really felt like you were alone in the woods, but a good hike overall.

We also hiked around Lynx Lake in Prescott with our dogs a few weeks ago. Nothing special, though it did rain, which was nice.

Hiked up to Browns Peak in the Four Peaks Wilderness about an hour from Phoenix. We never made it to the summit as it was late in the day and no one wanted to clamber up the scree chute, but we were about 150 feet below. Fantastic hike (even with the 18 mile off-road drive to get there), definitely want to get out there again.

I guess when you live in the west, “near” is a very relative term… I’m going to add two more to this list: we made an attempt on Mt Humphreys, the highest point in Arizona about two months ago. We got to Humphreys Saddle and turned back because of waning light and our generally late start. It was a pretty brutal hike anyway, gaining like 2500 feet in 3.25 miles.

The second would be a snowshoe hike up Mt Wrightston (southeast of Tucson) from Madera Canyon to Josephine Saddle. Gorgeous climb, and yes, there is winter hiking in Arizona.

But I did a short segment of the Arizona Trail by the Mogollon Rim and Blue Ridge Reservoir yesterday. It’s awesome to get out of Phoenix and into the mountains, where the sky is blue and the air is breathable. We took my friend’s dog along too, and he had this bizarre habit of running from shady spot to shady spot, and stopping dead in his tracks to relax in the shade until we nudged him along. We also saw a horny toad!