A long overdue cold front brought clouds, rain and some rare photo opps to the Valley of the Sun the first weekend of March, 2014. Here are some shots I took in and around South Mountain Park near our Phoenix home.
I had a free weekend in mid-January 2014, so my oldest daughter and I took to Arizona’s open roads and checked the Apache Trail off our Arizona Bucket List. The roughly 5-hour loop begins just north of the town of Apache Junction on the eastern edge of Phoenix metro. Most of the drive consists of fairly navigable two-lane blacktop. It’s the 25 or so miles of dusty, washboard road that will keep me from rushing back.
Prior to moving to Phoenix in 2012, I spent 17 years in the Denver – Boulder area of Colorado and did plenty of driving in the Rocky Mountains. So, I am fairly adept at handling steep, winding roads. However, I wasn’t prepared for just how steep some of the sections on the Apache Trail would be. In particular, Fish Creek Hill requires you to ride the brakes almost non-stop as you descend over 1,500 feet in elevation in just a couple miles. Even riding in my vehicle’s lowest gear, the decline was too steep to cruise without the use of brakes. As a result, many drivers, including me, pulled off about two-thirds of the way down the hill to let the brakes cool off – and take a few pictures.
I will let the pictures below tell the rest of my story; however, if I had to name a highlight it would be the awesome splendor of Apache Lake – a Goldilocks sized reservoir sandwiched between Roosevelt and Canyon Lakes along the Salt River. At one point, we backed my truck onto a small driveway on a bluff overlooking the marina area and sat on the tailgate to chow down our picnic lunch. As we resumed the drive, I was awestruck by the towering cliffs shooting out of the glassy, narrow channel on the lake’s eastern end. The visuals ignited dreams of bringing my family back in warmer months to cruise the lake in a rental boat.
Views from the Apache Trail (click any image to enlarge):
When skiers use the phrase “earn your turns” they are talking about hiking to a snow-covered section of mountain that cannot be accessed by a chairlift in order to ski it. The phrase that kept coming to me during this hike was, “earn the burn.” As in, burn in the legs.
Let me remind you, I am hiking the trails of neighboring South Mountain to get my legs in shape for a May 2014 hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and back out. If you’re looking to get your legs in shape, burn is good – and so is this hike.
I have not verified this point yet, but I would be willing to bet that this is the only trail in Arizona that leads you through a window of a burnt down structure, as you seen in the pictures below. This spot is known as Lost Ranch. It’s about a mile into the hike from the trail head, and where all the fun begins.
From here, you hike down through a pretty deep wash, then it’s all uphill for about another mile until you connect with National Trail. At this point, you hook a right and head east on National until it connects with Pyramid Trail about four miles later. If you’re in for a little more elevation gain, take an extra ten minutes and hike up Goat Hill for an outstanding view in all directions from 2,504 feet above sea level.
When I hiked it (January 2014), I did not encounter another person on that entire stretch. Once you connect to Pyramid Trail, you do a virtual about-face and head west about 1.5 miles before reaching what many consider the top of the trail.
Here is where I discovered my first petroglyph on South Mountain. I hear there are numerous petroglyph sites scattered throughout the park.
Speaking from experience, the descent down the face of Pyramid Trail can be challenging, but nowhere near as tough as the hike up it.
Hike details:
*Rough estimates. I don’t do GPS.
The Sidewinder – Secret Trail loop is one of the easiest, yet most rewarding, trails I have hiked on South Mountain. I estimate that the hike is about 2 miles round-trip and there is very little elevation gain. I intentionally chose this trail because I only had about an hour so before sunset and knew it would not take long. The loop took me just over an hour to complete.
I found that the Secret Trail section of this hike was most intriguing since it runs along the desert floor, just at the foot of South Mountain. From the trail, you can see a rocky crag rising up sharply toward the peak. I looked briefly for some of the fabled petroglyphs that are legend to exist in these parts, but I did not see any. Closer examination would have required going off the trail.
I would recommend this trail for anyone who is looking for an be easy trail with spectacular views. Take a look at my pictures to get a taste of what the trail offers. The trail head is located in a residential neighborhood near 36th Street & South Warpaint Drive.
Hike details:
*Rough estimates. I don’t do GPS.
Check out the pictures and captions below for more insights. Click on pics to expand.
I know what you are thinking. Why would anyone want to make using the F-word a resolution? That’s just it: I don’t want to start using the F-word. I want to drop it from my vocabulary altogether. 
For many of you, this may sound like a trivial resolution. However, use of the F-word has become all too commonplace for me. Although few people in my social circles have heard me use the F-word, it has become a word I rely on far too frequently in my vocabulary – especially when I’m alone.
Many times, I use it only when I’m talking to myself, such as when I’m driving or going about my work day. I use it as a noun, a verb, an adjective, a pronoun, and often as a complete sentence.
It always sets me back when I hear somebody that I respect otherwise, drop the F-bomb in the course of conversation. One day, it occurred to me that others probably have similar reactions when I use it. And if negative talk has any impact on moods (I believe it does), then I might be able to improve my overall mood by nixing the F-word.
In any case, the word is never used to express anything positive when it comes out of my mouth. My hope is to eradicate it from my lexicon altogether, since it does not benefit me in any way. Effective immediately, I will cease to use the F-word.
I continued my quest to hike every foot of charted trail on South Mountain by hiking a portion of Desert Classic Trail with my 12 year-old daughter on Christmas Eve morning in 2013. She had recently hiked it with her 7th grade class, so I asked her to lead the way.
The highlight of the hike was a rest stop on the notorious helicopter pad, which is the highest point on the trail. We walked the perimeter of the helipad and admired the views of million dollar homes, mountains, and clear blue skies. We could even see my daughter’s school where we parked the car.
Desert Classic is appropriately named since it offers a great variety of desert terrain and plant life in a relatively short distance. I found the vegetation to be more noticeably dense and diverse than on many of the trails of South Mountain.
Hike details:
*Rough estimates. I don’t do GPS.
Check out the pictures and captions below for more insights. Click on pics to expand. One of these days, I’ll add highlighted maps showing the exact trail(s) I hiked.
There is a lesson all of us would be independent authors can learn from Walter Swan.
I met Swan in December, 2013. Not in person. That would be tough since he passed away in the 1990s. I picked up an autographed copy of Swan’s book “How to be a Better Me” at a Goodwill store in Tempe one evening. When I first saw the book, I couldn’t help thinking, “There is no way somebody could market a book like this” and “If this guy can sell a book, so can I.”
You know the old saying: You can’t judge a book by it’s cover. That was certainly true with this book.
I cracked open the book to get a taste of the author’s style. What I discovered intrigued me: Short chapters of two to three pages with lessons on how to be a better person, written in the language of a good ole boy. I plunked down my dollar-fifty for the book, zipped over to the nearest Starbucks and dug in. Walter had me hooked. I felt like my grandpa was telling me these stories.
After reading the book for a few days, I decided to Google the author and find out more about him. (You should too.) Swan was a retired plaster contractor in southeastern Arizona with no higher education and no prior experience as an author. He couldn’t find a publisher to pick up his book, so he decided to publish it himself, with the help of a printer in Tucson, AZ.
Only a few stores would put his book on their shelves, so he rented retail space in downtown Bisbee, AZ and opened a store to sell his book. He called the store “The One Book Store.” Any guess as to what he sold in that store? It wasn’t the book I picked up. His first book was titled, “Me n’ Henry .” Turns out “How to be a Better Me” was one of many he went on to publish, although it’s hard to pin down all his titles. One person blogged about meeting Swan in 1994 and mentioned he had sold over 35,000 copies. I’m not sure if that’s in reference to his first book or all books combined. Nevertheless, it’s an inspiring number.
Walter has inspired me not only to be a better person, but also to become an author. I have several book ideas and one book that’s about 90% written. I have been sitting on it for about three years since I didn’t feel like I have enough clout. Neither did Swan.
What independent authors can learn from Walter Swan:
These days it’s easier than ever to self-publish books in electronic format with the help of sites like lulu.com and etsy.com. All we have to do is have a vision, a story to tell and the determination to follow it through. It’s that last item that Walter Swan has inspired me with.
Visible to anyone flying into Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport is South Mountain – a notorious mound of rock bearing a few dozen red-light dotted communications towers. Since one of the trailheads for South Mountain is about a half mile from my driveway, I have taken quite a few hikes on it since we moved to Phoenix in 2012.
It was only recently that I got serious with my goal to hike every foot of marked trail on South Mountain – a 17,000-acre preserve owned and operated by the City of Phoenix. Some sources report South Mountain (pdf map) is the largest city park in the nation. Who am I to question them? For a little perspective, Vail Ski Resort in Colorado measures up at 5,300 skiable acres.
I completed the hike chronicled below with my friend Ken on a beautiful Saturday morning in December, 2013. We were blessed with mostly cloudy skies following a day and a half of rain. We also had a few days of rain a couple weeks earlier, so the mountain was as green I have seen it.
Hike Details*
*Rough estimates. I don’t do GPS.
Click photos to enlarge.
I’m creating this list for my family and me, but thought I’d share it for anyone else who might be interested. We just moved to AZ in 2012.
I became aware of many of these sight from the Arizona Highways Magazine TV show and Facebook page. If there are other sites you would recommend, please leave them in the comments box below.
Must see:
Have seen:
Enjoy!
If you are a bargain shopper, your ship is about to come in. Four of the best bargain hunting days of the year on Ebay are just around the corner: December 24, 25, 31 and January 1.
Here’s why: Ebay is an auction site. There is only one thing that makes prices go up with an auction. People. If you are shopping on Ebay when hardly anyone else in the country is, you can pretty much have your way with prices. What are people doing on the aforementioned dates? Answer: Not shopping on Ebay.
My top tips to save big on Ebay this holiday season:
This concept only works if you are trying to win auctions that are closing on the dates I highlighted above. Don’t bid on items that will be closing on days after the dates listed above. Set your top price low and be okay with spending not a penny more, even if it means losing the item to someone else who read this post.
I discovered this tactic as a seller over 12 years ago when I inadvertently listed an item for auction that closed on a holiday. I didn’t get near the money that I was asking for the item but I learned a lesson that has paid me back greatly over the years. Few sellers put much thought into when the auction will close. Usually, they are just happen to get the item listed.
If you follow these tips and score big, please come back and leave a comment.
Paul Fiarkoski 