I had been mentally gearing up to summit Flatiron ever since a friend of mine had to get air lighted from it after she took a bad tumble descending it when she was on her fourth of the six peaks a couple of months ago. My alarm buzzed and I was out the door half an hour later at 4:30 a.m. Nearly two hours later, as we were getting closer to the trailhead, we noticed how the dirt road felt unusually rough but I kept heading toward the parking lot at the Peralta Trailhead. Once there, I noticed my incredibly flat and extremely shredded front/driver's side tire as I glanced at it right as I squatted to pee.

After many attempts by my roadside assistance to find a towing company who wouldn't hang up after they were told there was a dirt road involved, and before the Godsend of a tow truck arrived two hours later, my friend and I decided it was already too hot to summit to the top but still wanted to stretch our legs and experience as much of the trail that our time allowed.

Since it was the sixth of my six hikes, I was happy I finally remembered to wear the tank top listing the peaks for the challenge. Although I didn't summit Flatiron, I feel I'm still worthy of receiving the badge because my intention was to summit it and I know I would have. But now I won't be able to hike it by the 4/30 deadline because I'll be out of town. And one thing that's for sure is that I'm worthy of a Stay-Calm-Under-Pressure badge, too. Luckily, we got towed to a tire store and I pleaded to squeeze us in even though they were booked solid for the day. We made it home safe to Tucson, and that's what's important. It's also been fantastic to explore all of the new trails that I hadn't done before in the Phoenix area.