I have said many times since I first hikes Humphreys last year that I would never hike it again. I actually enjoyed the way up, but as soon as we started going down, severe attitude sickness kicked in. Last year, the descent took us longer than the ascent.

Well, then we got roped into doing this hiking challenge, and Humphreys was inevitable. Our strategies to try to combat another round of altitude sickness were: training for a couple months on other high altitude trails in AZ, going for a hike up in Lockett Meadow the day prior, sleeping for two nights (we only did one last year) in Flagstaff, plenty of carbs, frequent snack and pee breaks, and hydrating very well the whole week prior (not just the day of and/or day prior).

Good news – some part of that plan worked well! It was a far more enjoyable experience, and it ended up being about 7 hours of hiking instead of the 11 we spent last year! It really is awesome to be way up there on the top of Arizona like that. Not sure I want to do it again, but I'm not swearing it off like I did last year. I will say I still liked Kendrick more. 😉