BURRRR!!!  This was our first hike of the Arizona six pack of peaks.  It was chilly in the early morning and incredibly busy.  This trail is very popular and I was glad we got on the trail as early as we did.  This trail was pretty rocky, fairly easy in the beginning and got a little more difficult as we climbed to the peak.  Towards the top it got a little challenging trying to figure out the trail as a lot of the climbing was rock face.  We really had to choose our footing wisely as we got closer to the top, lots of scrambling.  The peak was crowded with fellow hikers and not a lot of places to chill and have a snack but we did and it was cold!!  Arizona in December is spectacular.  On the way back we found ourselves competing with mountain runners who are so familiar with this trail that there was some pressure to get out of their way.  As always, I slipped on a rock face but landed on my new backpack and only crushed my nuts a little (snacks in my pack) and didn't land on my buns too hard.  As we continued down the mountain, many more hikers were on the trail.  This is a little different than So. Cal hikes where sometimes we only see a handful of hikers the whole time we're on the trail.  All in all, a great start to the six pack challenge for Arizona.