South Mountain Park Trail

Om Sunday, I decided to hop back to the Arizona Grand Resort to take Andrew, the bell boy, up on his offer to take me to the South Mountain Park Hiking Trail. 

Upon arriving at Aunt Chilada’s, they called us a golf cart who brought us all the way over to the golf course where the biking/hiking trail can be found. Andrew gave us the number to call when we wanted to be picked up again (which was before Starbucks would close at six) and up we went.

It was dry out there, with lots of rocks and pebbles and hardly any vegetation. Since it’s a desert that makes total sense. The view was amazing as expected. These hills/mountains are surrounded by huge mountains far away, you can see when looking around (see vid). To my surprise there were birds present there and apparently so were small rodents and snakes. No, we didn’t see those, but we did see their holes.

My goal was to record sounds out there. So I kept climbing higher and higher, thinking that at some point I would be on the other side of a mountain, which would diminish the sounds of the highway, but alas. The highway remained audible, even on Sunday. In the past they’d had car-free Sundays, but not this Sunday.

I took some shots of birds and cactuses and of course the mountains and made some vids of the view out there. Sometimes there would be rain coming down through the clouds, creating this fabulous view, sometimes it was the cactuses. Regardless, the view was magnificent. 

Going up was doable with the crutches. Going down was quite another thing though, since the loose pebbles and the sand made it slippery. One jogger actually passed us, got distracted greeting us and slipped right in front of us. Fortunately he did okay and he told us he had been running here for half a year now, loosing quite some weight, also being the result of working out in the gym and a different diet.

Now this was when things became interesting. My roommate  decided to make a phone call, right there and then while we were climbing those mountains to find out when would be the best time to pick up her stuff, since she had been out of touch for a few days. It boggled me. Why at that moment? Why in the mountains? And guess what, she wasn’t the only one. So did a cyclist. Now to me, the mountains would be a place to just enjoy nature. In her favor, I have to add though that she must have felt that she was being called at that time and that had made he (without knowing it) decide to call them right there and then.

After all interruptions, we got down safely and Andrew was already nearby, so he picked us up and dropped us off at the lobby, so I finally could get my Starbucks and put my feet up. But boy, I’m proud I did it!

Here you can find the pictures of me climbing the mountains.

Here is the video of my adventure going to, on, and coming back from the mountain.