2011 10-9 South Mountain

Length: 8.1 miles

Duration: 5 Hours 02 minutes

Vertical Up: 2671 feet

My track log at EveryTrail





Five weeks ago I started out on this crazy adventure.  I was planning to hike 6 of the "Seven Summits of Phoenix" in 5 weeks.  Before the hike began I had look over the route and realized that we were going to be hiking across two mountain ridges, finding 16 geocaches and covering well over 7 miles.  I was pumped.  Today was the conclusion of this adventure with what can only be described as an EPIC hike. 
The Hike starts out at the end of Chandler Boulevard  deep into the city of Ahwatukee.  After a brief walk up 19th Ave, you reach the trail and slowly start climbing up to the first ridge line.  

As we started following the ridge line you get your first view of The Gold Standard Mine.  this is a old mining complex that is now in ruins.  it was fun to look over at that knowing I would pass by later in the day.

After following this ridge line some more, we came up to my favorite cache of the whole series of hikes: Irish Oatmeal.  This cache involved going off the trail for about 1/2 mile and climbing a pretty steep peak.  After that, we traversed across the rdge to the cache (a can of Irish Oatmeal).

Hiking across the ridge to Irish Oatmeal

Joe signing the log

After a brief rest we continued along the ridge and made our way down a steep hillside to the valley floor.  For the next 1/2 mile we did some more hiking and geocaching (one of the caches was a bowling pin). Soon the trail turned north over to the next series of hills.

This is where it gets steep.  The next 2 mile or so were straight up!  The hike was tough and I was really pressing to keep up.  Soon enough we were at the top!  What a treat to be surrounded by 360 degree views.  We made our way down to the official seven summits cache and celebrated our victory.   this is where I was thinking I really should have brought a beer up there.  Would have tasted sweet.


After resting for 15 minutes or so, we realized that the slower hikers had not reached us yet.  We quickly scurried up to the top and looked around.  Well, they had passed the turnoff at the summit and were 3/4 mile further on the trail.  This is when I did something insane.  I joined the group of two other hikers who went to chase after them.  So there I was running along the ridge of South Mountain trying to catch up to some people.  Six months ago, I never would have dreamed I would have been able to do this.  We (very quickly) caught up to the group and turned them around.

This is where a couple of us decided to go down a different trail.  So we started out back down the hill.

This was a really steep trail down.  I mean really steep.  In no time at all we were back down on the valley floor and came up to the ruins.

All that remained at this point was a leisurely hike back to the car.  I can't describe what a great hike this was.  It was so challenging and really secluded at times.  It tested my fitness level multiple times.  It was also fun to do so many geocaches!

I can't wait to hike again!  

2011 10-8 Lookout Mountain

Length: 3.5 miles

Duration: 2 Hours 39 minutes

Vertical Up: 1316 feet

My track log at EveryTrail

Temperature is starting to drop ….

Today’s hike was on a mountain I previously have hiked.  Lookout Mountain is the shortest hike in the seven summit series and I thought it would be a good warm-up for the South Mountain hike on Sunday.  I was right!

The group met at 8 and we started off by doing a Geocache that was fairly close to the starting point.  This cache was known as a Multi-cache.  For those of you who do not cache, this means that the first location gives you clues to the second location and so on until you arrive at the final cache.  We found the hide in short order, but, were disappointed to learn that the multi brought you out of the preserve.  Have to save this one for another time.

We quickly reset and soon were hiking up the hill.  The hike was relatively short (less than ¾ of a mile) but fairly steep.  In no time at all we were at the summit.


After the requisite pics and finding the summit cache, we began our descent down.   I planned on to hiking the whole preserve and do some geocaching.  SO I temed up with another hiker with the same goal and off we went.  The next few hours were spent finding several caches and visiting every peak in the preserve.

This was a fun hike and a great warm up for the next day’s adventure!

2011 10-1 Shaw Butte Geocaching

Length: 6.7 miles

Duration: 4 Hours 23 minutes

Vertical Up: 1772 feet

My track log at EveryTrail








Today's hike was the next hike in the continuing SSoP Geocaching event series.  We are taking 6 weeks to hike seven summits in the Phoenix area.  Since I am doing the "offical" Seven Summits of Phoenix hike next month, I am doing this series as a "warm-up" to the November event.
I arrived 1/2 hour early and made my way over from the Visitor's Center.  Along the way I found my first Geocache of the day (Marshmallow Rock).  After signing the log in crayon, I made my way over to the meet up location.  

After 20 minutes or so the group was all there and we began up the hill.  The hike on Shaw Butte starts off steep.  Since I was in Austin this week, I did not get a chance to work out much.  As we started up this hike, I really started to feel my week of relaxation.  After about 1/3 mile of hiking we reached the turn off to find our next cache.



After a stop at another cache, we  made our way to the summit of Shaw Butte.  We were barely over an hour into the hike and we had already reached the top.

Up at the top, some of the more experienced cachers headed over the side of the cliff and down to a special cache that you can log only if you find a cache a day for 300 days.  Since I have no chance of doing that (and since it was an extremely steep cliff), I decided to watch.

After some more rest, we began the journey across the top and onto my main goal of the day, a mystery cache called Road Runner's Revenge: Professor Fermi.  This was a puzzle cache where I had to solve a puzzle before the hike.  This was also a milestone for me as it was my 200th cache!

After a few more caches at the top, we started down.  On the way down, we stopped at the remains of Cloud Nine Restaurant.

After another rest and a few more caches, we made it the rest of the way down.  Then up again to my favorite climb of the day, a small peak out of the way with a beautiful view of the Phoenix Preserve.

View of the Phoenix Preserve from the top of a small peak.

This was another great hike and I look forward to South Mountain next week!