My hiking buddy, Stacy, and I went early to find parking and to beat the crowds. I'm so glad we did! It was a quick, butt-burner to the peak. Lots of steps carved into the hill, which was very cool. The wind whipped a bit at the peak and was very chilly. The view was spectacular as the desert floor rolled out below with Phoenix and other smaller communities laid out around us. We had a quick bite, took photos, explored the rocky peak and headed down. That's when we met with the crowds coming up the trail and the crowds sitting idle in the parking lot desperately waiting for a space. We had discussed doing Piestewa Peak and Camelback in the same day since they are geographically close but when we rolled by Camelback, the crowd there would have rivaled Disneyland crowds. Intense! So, we visited a local brewery in Scottsdale – Two Brothers – and planned to summit Camelback the next morning.