We started at 4:30 a.m. The weather was absolutely perfect! It was great to escape the Heat of Phoenix. We no longer needed headlamps at around 5:30 a.m.

The forest was beautiful, the birds were chirping, and we saw a few red squirrels. We made good time for the first 2.5 miles and enjoyed the scenery for a while. There is a gorgeous view of Az Snowbowl.

Things started to get tough just before we reached the saddle. At the saddle we saw some chipmunks. I assume mother with babies. It looked like she was carrying them inside of her mouth.

After our break at the saddle we began a very dreadful ascent to the summit. The kids were not feeling well, and neither was I. We were almost fooled by one of the false summit, however we knew what to expect.

We spent little time at the summit because of the bugs. We moved quickly and carefully to get down to the treeline before there was a chance of storms, plus we needed to get into a more oxygen rich environment.

The last couple of miles were miserable and we were all glad to see the truck at the end. It took us 10.5 hours to complete. The kids were all glad that they did it, and I still had to tell at them several times to go to bed after 10:00p.m.

We made a youtube video, check it out!