| | Hiking. Uphill.As intellectually mesmerizing as hernias can be, I decided to take some time away for the conference to tackle what I thought would be an invigorating hike in one of Phoenix's famed parks: Camelback Mountain.
After perusing through several visitor guide magazines and Web sites, I was perplexed by what seemed to be a definitive discouragement of tourists climbing up the mountain. The hike was ranked anywhere from "very strenuous" to "difficult," and it was accompanied by tales of would-be mountaineers stranded on rocky precipices awaiting the arrival of rescue teams.
Whoa, I thought to myself. This isn't like it's Mt. Hood we're talking about here. It's a 1.5-mile hike to top, a 1200-ft ascent. I mean, I've trekked through Patagonia, hiked up Pike's Peak, rafted down Class V rapids. How bad can it really be?
As I came to the trailhead, I noticed a conglomerate of 40-year-old men with blue jeans smoking cigarettes and a bunch of ditzy-looking Gwen Stefani wannabes walking off the trail.
Dude, if they can do it...seriously...
Yeah. Well. It turns out that I'm no longer in the pristine physical condition I once was. The last third of the hike found me huffing and puffing at the ticklish, smoggy desert air whilst scrambling across rocky precipices (truly, rocky precipices) wondering if the passing helicopter was a rescue team awaiting for an appropriate signal from me to trot out their heroic maneuvers.
When I finally got to the top, I found myself in the company several young, fit boys and girls who wore T-shirts declaring their year of graduation from high school (the years notably being from the past 24 months). I felt old. And exhausted.
I sucked on the lukewarm, Arizona tap water in my water bottle and enjoyed the view for as long as I could stand it.
Well, it might not have been pretty -- but I did make it to the top. I think "very strenuous" is an adequate description.
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| | Posted 3/16/2008 8:51 PM - 3 comments
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