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!