HikeArizona.COM

Here is some drivel, or some waxing nostalgia.

What is the one hike you can't imagine your life to be without, or can't imagine your life to have been without? If you have one, that is. It is the hike, where you look back at it, or look at today, and realize that without it, you would have been lost, bewildered, scared, and without hope. Well, maybe that goes too far. Maybe it isn't even the best hike in the state, or area, or world, or where ever, but it was or is the hike you remember most fondly, and it may have had a huge impact on your life. Maybe it was your best hike, or your favorite, despite what negative (gasp) things others would say about it.

If you notice my current signature, you can guess mine. Despite what many people may have thought 4 or 5 years ago, it isn't Humphrey even though that had a big impact on me and sent me off on many trips to other places that were great, it really is Mount Elden. That, for a number of reasons, is the one hike I can't imagine the period from 8/2006 to 9/2011, and really to 10/2012, to have been without. Even when I became sick of it, I always came back to Elden, and really, except during windy spring, it was great. Even during spring it could be great, I just tended to not like the wind. Since moving from northern Arizona in 10/2012, I use Elden as my rod by which I measure all potential candidates for routine hikes. If I were Sinéad O'Connor, I would sing to it, how nothing compares to....no, no, NO! I wouldn't do that. Ha! Seriously, though.

Even after moving to Kayenta, where there were few hikes, or to Alamogordo, where I did the A Trail and Ortega a lot and they became my routine hikes, I never found quite the level of attachment or enjoyment that I did with Elden, and as I used Elden as my gauge to judge other potentials by, I found these two to be about 2/3 as good, most of the time. The A and Ortega are just a little to long to do fast, and I could have found another potential hike such as Goat Springs since that was very nice, and the ATV use nature of the A really cut back on trail enjoyment. If nothing else, Elden could go fast. I forgot how well I used to do on that trail, and it was about perfect for me and what I can do quickly as an excercise hike. I could enjoy it slowly for fun, and it had options to tack on loops to further places, and if you were crazy enough, you could go to Humphrey from there, too.

What is your one hike, that might be like mine?

The one hike that launched me to higher places.. Wilson Mountain Trail.

Superstitions Ridgeline.

Cuyamaca Peak in San Diego County could fit this idea for me, just because of the memories. I hiked it a number of times in the 70's but I don't remember how many times. Hiked all through that area many times. The memories are important to me and many are very clear, and have had a formative effect on me. Haven't hiked to that summit since the 70's. The area was totally burned over in the 2003 Cedar Fire. I went been back to the area to hike Stonewall Peak several years ago.

I'd have to say the very first hike I ever went on; Peralta to Fremont Saddle back in the spring of 2012. I just remember being in awe of Weaver's. I hadn't heard much about it (having moved to the area from the east coast just over a year prior) and had only seen a pic or two of it. But wow! In person...it was almost as grand as seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time. A few short months later I did Flatiron for the first time (and my 2nd overall hike ever). Without that first one, however, it would be kind of weird trying to imagine how different my life would be.

After returning home from outback beyond the three wire, that short hike from the jeep to the front door. That's when the memories of a trip start.