When I was young, growing up in Indiana, our neighborhood was surrounded by 100′ tall sycamore trees. These trees are perfect for climbing, and we built tree houses, climbed as I high as we dared, and even played “tag” in the trees.

Hiking Camelback Mountain took me back to that exhilerating sensation of danger.

It's an extremely popular trail, especially on the weekends. I parked on Invergorden Road early, and trudged up Cholla Street to the trailhead. I started promptly at 7am, as the sky was just beginning to lighten.

There were plenty of others already on the trail, evidenced by the headlamps dotting the side of the mountain.

The Cholla Trail goes mostly up, following stone steps or winding through and over rain-slicked rocks from last night's storm. There are 34 numbered trail markers, providing you some rough idea of how far you have to go. Once you pass marker 25, the trail becomes part hike, part scramble. I used my hands more than I anticipated.

The summit was crowded, but I got that summit selfie, drank some water and took some photos before turning around.

The return trip down Cholla was slow going. I was glad for the final half which is much less treacherous.

This was my first time hiking Camelback Mountain, and I can see why it's a classic Phoenix-area hike.

My total time was 1 hour 54 minutes, with 15 minutes of that spent hanging out at the summit.