Arizona — South Mountain

On my final day in Arizona, I didn’t have to drive far for a final hike before returning to the flatland of Washington, DC. I also didn’t have to drive myself, as Greg, thankfully, doesn’t work on Saturdays and was my willing hiking partner. So after sleeping in a bit, we headed to South Mountain, which has the distinction as the world’s — yes, world’s! — largest city park belonging to Phoenix. There are 55 miles of trail in this city mountain park, and they range in difficult from very easy — read: hill — to very difficult. I think we probably hiked the ones in the middle, because they were moderate but by no means “tough.”

South Mountain is cool because of how close it is to everything in the city. We reached one of the several trailheads after about a 20-minute drive from Tempe and started up the Mormon Trail. From the road, the mountain looks like a long ridge, but after reaching the top of that ridge after a hike of about 15 to 20 minutes, we realized that there was a huge notch in between of where we stood and a similar ridge on the other side.

We had truly discovered the breadth of the park. It was huge and expansive. We could see no ends to it, no perimeter except where we had come from.

As we walked along the ridge, we kept searching for snakes. After all, I hadn’t seen a single one the entire week. Not a single snake! We peered under rocks. We looked for sun-drenched rocks — and there were plenty of them. It was hot. The sun was beating us down. Our water supply was waning quickly, and I hadn’t filled my Camelback all the way up, anticipating a much easier hike than the previous days’ excursions.

No snakes.

As we were walking along peacefully, we heard a loud sound behind us.

Mountain lion? Herd of snakes? Country of lizards?

Nah, just mountain bikers. Yes, while some of the trails we were on were quite rocky, that didn’t stop mountain bikers from taking on the challenge of navigating the trails. I, personally, don’t see the appeal in trying to bounce and glide over all the sharp rocks, but, hey, I guess it’s an adrenaline rush for some.

So for about half the hike, we were constantly aware of and ready for that next mountain biker.

It was, after all, a city hike, but not nearly as crowded as Camelback almost a week earlier and offering several more routes to take. From the ridge, too, we had great views of the entire valley and Camelback and its neighbors to the north.

As far as wildlife, we had to settle for seeing a few lizards.

It would wind up a snake-free trip to Arizona. Go figure.

After a satisfying hike of probably 5 to 6 miles, we drove to the Farm, a really cool outdoor lunch place on a farm that produces all of its own products. We got lunch and sat at a picnic table under pecan trees.

As I sat there, thoroughly enjoying the remnants of Greg’s macaroon ice-cream sandwich, I thought to myself, Man, this trip sure has been incredible and unique. I won’t be forgetting about this for quite awhile.

Even minus the snakes.