I can't believe it's been since November that I did any hiking (and that was the final hike of last year's SoCal Six Pack!) but this winter I set my sights elsewhere: skiing. I moved back to the East Coast even after I'd sworn I'd never deal with another dark and freezing winter, and being able to get out for ski weekends was pretty much my only salvation. I wish I'd gotten a little bit more mileage out of my Ikon Pass, but it was apparently enough skiing to make a difference — it became clear today that it helped get my quads and glutes into gear, which it turned out would be very crucial for kicking off the Arizona Winter Six-Pack. Which I'm trying to knock out in a single week… although finishing the challenge may require a quick return trip in early April. We'll see how my feet and my lower back feel after a few days of hiking.

I initially was going to do this trip a month ago, but then a product launch at work got pushed back and I didn't want to be traveling the week before the launch. So here I am, and uh, this is an insanely popular time of year to be in Arizona. Especially starting with Camelback, which is insanely popular. The Echo Canyon trail — and keep in mind, this is currently the only trail to the summit because the Cholla Trail is closed for renovations — was absolutely packed with families on spring break and tourists who were in town for MLB spring training. (It was a weekday, and yet the parking lot was full by 9:30 AM.) This meant for some slow going as well as occasionally stepping off to the side to make sure a group behind me wasn't pushing me to move faster than I wanted to.

I'd actually hiked Camelback once before, and it occurred to me that that hike had been a full decade ago while I was in the Phoenix area on a business trip. Wow, time flies. And I definitely took the Cholla Trail for that, because I had no recollection of the extremely steep sections on Echo Canyon that in some cases even had guardrails. It was a four-limbs-required hike and an absolute butt-burner, but completely manageable for me thanks to all that skiing.

Anyway! After a long, cold winter it was so terrific to be back on the trails in the sunshine. I'd missed the desert badly. Onward to, ideally, a double hike of Piestewa and Fremont Saddle tomorrow.