It’s been a little over 3 months since I last blogged. In those 3+ months, nothing much has happened because nothing much is going on. The world is still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and, as a result, much of normal life has been suspended, such as going out to restaurants, meeting people in large groups, and working in offices. Instead of going out to eat, you could order takeaway. Instead of meeting people in large groups, you may socialize with your immediate family or restrict yourself to gathering with a handful of your friends at least 6 feet apart. Instead of working in your normal place of work, you may be working from home. There is a “sameness” to life, a monotony that covers each day, making you wonder “what is the point to all of this???”

In an attempt to stave off boredom and to salvage my mental health, a friend and I decided to tackle an ambitious hiking challenge: the Grand Canyon “Rim to Rim” (R2R) hike. We both enjoy hiking and are both suffering from a lack of purpose during this pandemic. R2R is something we both wanted to do in the past, but never got around to doing because of schedules, lack of fitness, etc. Well, we’re tired of not doing anything big or fun or challenging! So, we’re planning on doing R2R starting at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and ending at the South Rim. We want to do this hike in 1 day and we are fully aware that we will be in pain because total mileage is about 25 miles (40 km). You lose about 5300 feet (1615 m) in elevation when you hike from the top of the North Rim down to the canyon floor….then you have about 4400 feet (1341 m) to climb on the way up to the South Rim. Yes, pain. BUT….I’m choosing to think about the bragging rights and all the fries I can eat without guilt!

We scheduled our R2R attempt for mid-October, which only gives us about 6 weeks of training time (note: I started my training on September 1, which gives me a total of 6 weeks). Last week, my goal was to hike my 3.5 mile fitness loop near my house every morning before work. Goal accomplished. Side note: it’s STILL really hot here in Phoenix. The high temperatures last week hit 46C (115F). Gross.

This week, I scheduled a few longer hikes for my morning workout, with a 10 mile hike for Saturday to end the week. I’ll gradually increase my mileage over the next couple of weeks until I hit my longest training hike at the end of September, then taper off the week leading up to the actual R2R hike.

So…yay? I have a plan? I mean, I have a plan! 😉 Wish me luck (and good weather)!

Last year, I organized a DIY version of the annual PHX 7 Summit Challenge (click here to read last year’s blog post). At the end of the event last year, everyone said that they wanted to do it again. So, I organized the 2nd annual version and we completed it yesterday.

Based on the event last year, I knew I wanted to change a few things. The most important one is to trim down the transition time between hikes. In my last email to the group the night before the event, I requested that we all do our best to minimize the time between hikes by eating/drinking in the drive to the (next) trailhead and by using the bathroom as soon as you get to the trailhead (or right after finishing whatever hike we completed). The second most important thing I wanted to ensure is GOOD FOOD. Last year, we ended with the longest, hardest hike in the dark….and we were all ravenous….and there weren’t any great food options. Although we ended up at Five Guys last year (and enjoyed the fries there immensely), it just didn’t scream “celebration dinner!” So, I re-ordered the hike order to begin with the longest, hardest hike and end with a hike close to a lot of “celebratory” type places, i.e. guaranteed (veggie) burgers and fries.

I’m very pleased to report that we not only completed all 7 hikes, we finished much faster than last year (about 1.5 hours faster) and enjoyed a great celebratory dinner with really yummy burgers and fries! #goteam #eyesonthefries

Event recap

Order of hikes: Holbert Trail (South Mountain); Apache Vista and Ridgeback Overlook; Deem Hill; Lookout Mountain; Shaw Butte; Dreamy Draw.

Stats: according to my Garmin, we hiked a cumulative 23.4 miles with 4,550 ft gain. We started shortly after 6:30am and finished at 6:30pm, enjoying a beautiful sunrise and sunset. Eight hikers started the day at Holbert Trail and 5 hikers ended the day at Dreamy Draw. However, only 3 hikers completed all 7 hikes. My reason for starting a little later this year is because we had a slightly smaller group.

Dinner: thanks to SanTan Brewing Company (north Phoenix location) for being open (haha) and for having some fantastic fries and black bean burgers. 🙂

Highlights of the day included a gorgeous sunrise and sunset, beautiful cloud formations, cool temperature, great company, no injuries, and did I mention those awesome fries?

Things to consider for next year’s event: include some different hikes, admission fee/donation to charity (this is to lock down commitment), and an event t-shirt.

Stay tuned for more details. Until then, merry Christmas and Happy 2020!

Some people are naturally flexible, easily able to touch their toes (with legs straight) or do those cool backbends that scream “Look at me! I’m young and supple!” Not me. Sitting cross-legged is a, um, stretch for me. My usual state of being is tense and knotted up. Although I exercise regularly and enjoy doing things like long day hikes or bike rides, I am not good at stretching my poor muscles. However, I am very open to doing yoga/stretching and thought that if I could find a Groupon special or some other deal for yoga, then maybe I could use that to start incorporating more stretching in my life. So, I went online and found a local yoga studio that is currently offering 30 days of yoga for $30.

My first class was this past Monday and I chose to try an aerial yoga class. First, let me say that this blog post will not have any pictures of me and YOU ALL SHOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL.

OK, what is aerial yoga? Essentially, it’s a yoga class conducted in hammocks. The instructor leads you through the same yoga poses as a mat class (i.e. yoga done on a mat), except that you’re in a hammock. Practitioners claim that some benefits of aerial yoga include greater range of mobility (because you can hang onto the sides of the hammock, which enables you to stretch further) and a better ab/core workout (because you have to use those muscles more to balance yourself). The online pictures of aerial yoga do look really cool, somewhat similar to what you see in any Cirque du Soleil show. For example:

My conclusions? Aerial yoga is not for me. When my aerial yoga class started, the first thing we were told to do is to get into the hammock. That took me several minutes. After I maneuvered my old, stiff body into that swinging piece of suspended nylon, I immediately started feeling dizzy and nauseous. My next thought: “This is going to be a LONG 60 minutes.” (Note: I was correct.)

The instructor was encouraging and helped me in and out of the hammock several times, probably feeling sorry for the girl whose limbs kept getting in her way. She said that “most people need 3-4 sessions to get the hang of getting in and out.” As for the dizziness? She was sympathetic and said that the more I practiced aerial yoga, the less I’d experience dizziness. Hmm. How about I don’t do aerial yoga again and not feel dizzy (because of it) again?

More fun poses followed the actual getting into the hammock, like tree pose (standing on one leg with the other leg leaning against the standing leg), butterfly (sitting position with the feet touching and knees bent out), and my personal favourite, the “floss,” which required you to straddle the hammock, grip both ends of the hammock in one hand and pull up while sticking one foot in front into the hammock. (Use your imagination to picture the “floss” part of the pose. Aren’t you glad I don’t have pictures for this blog?)

Strangely enough, my least favorite part of the class was the last 10 minutes, which was in corpse pose, a.k.a. the easiest pose. All we had to do was lie on our back in the hammock. We were told to relax and to breathe. All I remember thinking is “why is my hammock still moving??” and “please please don’t throw up.” The dizziness lasted well into the next day!

Am I glad I tried aerial yoga? Yes. Will I try it again? No (read above blog post). However, I’m all for the “conventional mat” yoga and I already feel the benefits of doing that this past week. Hooray for trying new things. 🙂

Yesterday was Backpacker magazine’s 2nd annual “National Summit Day.” Last year, my friend Crystal and I hiked Arizona’s Humphrey’s Peak on what was the 1st annual National Summit Day. It was a beautiful day and despite no training, we made it to the top. I didn’t know we peaked AZ’s highest point on such an auspicious day, but it was a happy surprise.

This year, I thought it would be fun to hike Humphrey’s again on National Summit Day (hmm, perhaps an annual tradition?), so I got a few friends to join me. Humphrey’s is just outside of Flagstaff, which is generally about 30 degrees cooler than Phoenix due to its higher elevation. Here in Phoenix, the highs right now are averaging 110F/42C. My friends were more than happy to join me and escape the heat.

We left Phoenix at 5:30am and arrived at the trailhead by about 8:25am, hitting the trail a few minutes later. The park rangers warned us to get off the summit by 11am because of impending thunderstorms. We decided to play it by ear and turn around if necessary.

It was a refreshing, cool day with loads of wildflowers in the meadow and tons of lovely tree coverage. When we got to the saddle, 2 gals decided to turn around, while Jodey and I decided to press on to the top and risk the storm.

However, my legs decided that they didn’t want to face the storm and cramped up about 25 minutes from the summit. The cramp in my right leg was so bad that I literally fell to my knees. I may have uttered a bad word or two….in any case, I thought that was my cue to turn around because I had to get back down to the car! I told Jodey to go ahead and “get to the top for all of us.” She did! I waited for her back at the saddle and after a little lunch break, we made our way down in pretty good time (my legs didn’t cramp up again). We did get caught in some pretty heavy rain and hail and heard a lot of thunder. (We later learned that the temperature at the top was 58F/14C and the high in Phoenix was 110F….that’s more than a 50 degree difference!) Each time I heard thunder, that made me pick up the pace a little bit more.

We made it back to the car around 3:15pm and after changing our shirts and shoes, drove back to Flagstaff for some really great burgers and fries. Seriously folks, the food is probably the best part of any big outdoor adventure! Wishing you all happy adventures!

After 4 years of barely tolerating our “aesthetically offensive” kitchen, we finally started our kitchen remodel. We are doing much of the work ourselves in an attempt to save money. That DIY work includes designing the kitchen, doing the demolition (i.e. “gutting” the kitchen), moving a door several feet, replacing/repairing drywall, removing tiles and installing new flooring.

[I should clarify that when I say “we” are doing much of the work ourselves, I really mean that my SAT (i.e. self-appointed trainer) is doing much of the work himself. The demolition occurred this past weekend and he removed all the cabinets, countertops, and pantry walls. I am so impressed!]

We have 3 main objectives with this daunting project: 1) increase storage space, i.e. have a specific place for everything; 2) increase counter space (via a gigantic island that’s about 10 feet in length); and 3) make it look modern and pretty. Some of our wish-list items include:

• new, modern cabinets with the soft-close feature;
• spice drawer, knife drawer, gadget drawer;
• a real pantry;
• espresso bar with sink;
• a large island with a sink and seating for 3-4 people;
• double wall oven and induction cooktop;
• stone countertop, i.e. granite or quartz.

Today is the end of day 6. My SAT was working super hard for the first few days, until his parents arrived earlier this week to help out. So far, the following has occurred:

• temporary kitchen set up;
• kitchen gutted (cabinets and countertops removed, old makeshift pantry shelves and enclosure removed);
• old tile and mortar removed;
• old drywall removed (as needed);
• old appliances removed (and a couple of them sold!);
• plumbing for island completed;
• kitchen door moved down a few feet to accommodate new design.

One challenge during the remodel process is cooking without a sink. I set up a temporary kitchen in our “piano area,” complete with a single induction burner, fridge, and microwave and a couple of tables that serve as countertops. I also found a lot of “one-pot” recipes that should yield simple meals.

Now, some pictures! Stay tuned for more…

Ever since we adopted our (first ever) kitty, Simone, my SAT (self-appointed trainer) has been talking about getting a “friend” for Simone. I was much more hesitant about that idea because I wanted Simone to adjust more to our house and to us….and although I loved having Simone, the thought of another kitty seemed a bit daunting to me. What if the two don’t get along? Would we have to give up the second cat? What if the two take FOREVER to become, if not friends, tolerant of each other?

As a compromise, 2 weekends ago, we decided to check out a local pet rescue to learn about volunteer opportunities. Lost Our Home is a “no-kill” shelter that was founded in 2008 as a response to the recession at the time. A local mortgage banker noticed a lot of abandoned homes and animals; often times, the animals did not have access to any food or water. We were impressed upon hearing the story and wanted to give back to the community in a small way. (Plus, hanging out with cute animals is fun!)

When we visited Lost Our Home, we checked out the “cattery” (i.e. the area in which the cats were housed) and saw a number of very social and charming felines, all available for adoption. One in particular caught my SAT’s eye: a striking boy named Jack. According to Lost Our Home, most white cats with blue eyes are deaf. Jack is a white cat with blue eyes who is not deaf….therefore, he is a “purrfect” specimen. He’s about 1.5 years old and is almost twice as big as Simone, weighing in at 14 pounds (she’s almost 3 years old and about 8.5 pounds).

Well, we adopted Jack and started the same process with him as we did with Simone to begin acclimating him to our house (i.e. keep him in one room). However, it was more important to keep him in his own room this time because of Simone, who was showing territorial behavior. The first 3 days were a little rough: we kept Jack in one room the first night, then listened to him meow and meow. We would go and hang out with Jack that first night, where he would exhibit some signs of anxiety (pacing, frenetic head-butting, lots of vocalization). The second day and night was more of the same with the addition of cracking Jack’s door open so Simone could smell him (and sort of see him) better. That resulted in Simone hissing at Jack, her hackles rising, and her tail becoming really bushy, all classic signs of aggression. Jack just made some pitiful meows and stayed in his room. I actually spent the night in Jack’s room to try and comfort him.

Day three: my SAT worked from home that day and was rather distracted by Jack’s constant meowing. During my commute home that night, my SAT called me and reported that the two cats were in the same room AND NOT KILLING EACH OTHER. Day 3 ended with both kitties on our bed. What??? Of course, there were a few not-so-nice interactions, mainly instigated by Simone, but ever since that night, the two have been existing in relative harmony. We’ve noticed their relationship developing really nicely and observed some key indicators that point to a good friendship: 1) they’ve chosen to use the same litter box, 2) they eat their food beside each other, 3) they sleep near each other on our bed during the day when we’re not home, 4) they sleep on our bed with us, and 5) they hang out on their “catio” together (a “catio” is an enclosed outdoor space for kitties).

Jack is a friendly guy who LOVES to know what you’re doing at all times. If you’re in the bathroom, he will follow you. If you’re working at home, he will lounge by you. He’s always up for some petting and he always greets you when you come home. He’s also a little impulsive, sticking his nose into whatever he can get it into. I think he’s a good foil to Simone, who’s more reserved and cautious.

It’s been really fun to see the two of them playing together and chasing each other around the house. They are both very lovable and we love them a lot! Now, maybe I won’t feel too guilty when I go on my next day hike or bike ride because the kitties have each other for company!

Long post ahead! For the short version, here’s the summary: “No pain, no (elevation) gain.” 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Way back in September, I mentioned that I was starting to organize my DIY version of the Phoenix 7 Summit Challenge. I’m so very happy to report that my hardy band of hikers successfully completed the challenge this weekend. Who knew I had so many friends who like to spend their free time hurting themselves?

For those unfamiliar with the summit challenge, the purpose is to hike 7 different summits in Phoenix in one day. The day is like a pub crawl, except instead of driving to different pubs to drink different drinks over the course of a night, hikers drive to different trailheads to hike numerous trails over the course of an entire day. Which sounds more fun to you, my dear readers? 😉

The hikes range in length from 2.8 miles to 5 miles and elevation gain per hike varies from 340 feet to 1000 feet. At first glance, the idea of doing the complete summit challenge seems doable…until you get to hike #6 and your brain is thinking more of the food you want/need instead of moving your feet step by painful step. But, I digress. Total cumulative distance for all 7 hikes is 25 miles and total elevation gain is 5000 feet (1524 metres, for my Canadian friends).

Now that the details are out of the way, I’ll get into a play-by-play of the day (yes, rhyming is intentional):

• Alarm goes off at 4:30am. Groan, shut off alarm, stumble out of bed. Be thankful I packed up everything the night before. Too bad my SAT (aka, “Self-appointed trainer”/husband) didn’t. Watch my SAT scramble to get his stuff together, as usual. Get annoyed.
• Leave home at 5:07am for the first trailhead/meeting place: Apache Wash, way north in Cave Creek. Arrive there at 5:45am.
• After making sure everyone is present, headlamps are working, and trail located, my valiant group of 9 hikers starts our day-long adventure shortly after 6am.

• The Apache Wash trailhead is where our first 2 hikes occur (Apache Vista and Ridgeback Overlook). Both of these hikes are pretty gentle and are a good way to warmup. (It is possible that the “friendliness” of these first 2 hikes is a little misleading….but I’ll get to that later.) One of my personal highlights of the day was seeing all the colorful hot-air balloons:

Silhoutted hot-air balloon.

So cool!

I felt like we could almost jump into the balloons!

Second summit selfie.

• Drive to the 3rd trailhead, Deem Hills. Stuff face with food during drive. Arrive at the trailhead, use the restrooms, get the backpacks organized, and start hike #3. Observations: Deem Hills has a great dog park! Also, because we were now hiking in full daylight, we could see a TON of caterpillars on the trail. Not sure if there were that many caterpillars on the previous 2 trails, since we didn’t have as much light, but wow, we sure saw a lot of those critters.

• Hike #4 is Lookout Mountain and it is aptly named. The summit gave us fantastic views of the city (i.e. “lookout”). I liked the tiny little scramble to the top–thank you, palo verde tree for providing a strong foothold! This hike started off nice and flat….then it became vertical. At this point, I remember thinking how long ago the Apache Wash hikes were (and how gentle and lovely and easy they were…). I believe we finished hike #4 just after 12 noon.

#4 conquered! (Megan was already on the way down at this point!)

Views from the summit of Lookout Mtn.

Another summit view.

A 3rd summit view.

• OK. So, hike #5, Shaw Butte, felt really hard to me. Maybe it’s because I already hiked 4 hikes by this point? Or, maybe the driving around gives me enough time to stiffen up (getting old isn’t fun!!)? Whatever the case may be, my legs weren’t happy with most of the Shaw Butte hike, mainly because the trail consisted of a(n) (annoying) gravel road that was fairly steep. I think this hike was when most of us started talking about what we wanted to eat when we finished the day (burgers and fries was the #1 answer, with the #2 answer being “food”).

We’re still smiling…at least on the outside…

Look at the city!

• I think hike #6, Dreamy Draw, is the prettiest one. We were a tad confused about which trail to take (wasn’t super clear on our trail map), but our “walking GPS,” i.e. Skyler (he made gpx files for his GPS), led us to our goal. I’d like to come back and explore a bit more because what I saw was really nice.

Thankfully, this sign was NOT applicable!

Pretty green everywhere.

Summit block.

• FINALLY. Hike #7, Holbert trail in South Mountain. Honestly, I think we were deep in the “grin and bear it” stage. We were in the home stretch. It was about 4:30pm when we started our last hike and we were tired and sore and questioning (again) our decision to do this challenge. But, we soldiered on. The Holbert trail is essentially a long staircase; the trail is rocky and features SO MANY BIG STEPS. Not gonna lie, I was getting mad at the trail for having so many big steps. Yes, I realize the previous sentence makes no sense….I mean, why should I get angry at an inanimate trail? (Answer: because I could and because I was tired of feeling tired.) However, since this challenge was my idea, I needed to pretend to be positive. (I think that worked.) Sooner than I thought, we reached the summit of our last hike and were rewarded by some great views.

7 tired hikers at the top of the 7th summit. Back row, L to R: Mark, Skyler, Jodey, Stevo, John. Front row: Megan, Karen.

Sunset is starting.

Dobbin’s Lookout (stone house)

The hike back down to the trailhead was slow and painful, mainly because it was getting dark and because of those DUMB BIG STEPS. I started singing that classic motivational song “99 Bottles of Beer,” but that didn’t have the intended motivational effect I hoped (sorry Jodey and John! I tried!).

Phoenix’s night lights.

Skyler and Megan saw a scorpion on the way down!

Just before 7pm, the group stumbled back to the cars, grateful to be alive…er, very happy to be done. We mustered up the energy to take one last group selfie and to decide upon a place to get food:

The best part of a long day playing outside is the food you get to inhale afterwards. In our case, we drove straight to a nearby Five Guys for burgers, fries (!!!), and milkshakes. Heaven.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would I do anything differently?

*Before I answer the above question, I want to say that most of the group WANTS TO DO THIS AGAIN. I think I have an annual event on my hands!

Did I learn anything for next time? Yes. In no particular order:

1. I can eat really fast.–I wolfed down food during the drives in between the hikes. I surprised myself.
2. Bring blister tape, or bandaids.–I got a blister, nothing major, but a little uncomfortable.
3. Make transition times shorter.–By “transition times,” I mean the time in between the hikes. Maximize the drive: eat your food (see point #1), hydrate, get whatever you may want/need packed in your backpack. When you arrive at the next trailhead, go to the restroom as soon as you get there, not after everyone else has. Basically, think ahead about what you need to do and do it quickly. I’m not sure how much time was lost due to transitioning from hike to car to next hike, but I’m pretty certain transition time can be cut down, which would make the whole day shorter (and food acquisition earlier).
4. I think I’d rather do my DIY version of the summit challenge!–I’d rather drive around and hike with fewer people on the road/trails.
5. If possible, schedule next year’s summit crawl during a long weekend.–It’s so nice to have an extra day to recover and relax!
6. Prepare my own GPS maps.–I was lucky this year because Skyler did all that. But, what if there’s no Skyler next year? I can’t assume that someone else will do that. Note to self: PREP MY OWN GPS MAPS.
7. Bake more pumpkin bread.–I made some pumpkin bread for the group. They liked it. 🙂

Who’s in next year?

I didn’t do a big hike last weekend due to the torrential rain (really! Phoenix does get rain and we’ve had a lot of rain this October, so much so that this month has been the 3rd wettest month in state history). However, yesterday was a great day, so I chose to do a solo hike up Mount Ord near Payson. Longtime blog readers (all 5 of you?) may recall that my SAT (self-appointed trainer) and I hiked Mount Ord earlier this year, enjoying a good climb, better views, and junk food at the summit. I really enjoyed the hike and thought it would be a good training hike for my DIY summit challenge.

I had a great hike. The temperature was around 19-20 C/high 60s F, which felt amazing, and there was green everywhere due to the recent rains. The scenery was lovely, even though there were no purple bushes like last time. My legs felt strong due to the hiking training I’ve been doing and I believe I kept a pace of at least 2.5 mph according to my GPS. My GPS also said that my total mileage was 15 miles and almost 4000 feet of elevation gain, which was a little off of the statistics the last time I hiked Mount Ord. As a treat, I brought some pizza and a Coke for my summit snack, like last time.

What I saw yesterday that I did not see last time were 2 snakes and 1 tarantula. I almost stepped on the first snake, because I thought it was just a piece of wood….then I noticed some spots and a forked tongue….!

The second snake scared me a bit because I did NOT notice it until I heard its rattling. I was listening to a podcast and was pretty focused on it when I noticed a weird rattling noise. My internal monologue kind of went like this: “What’s that weird sound? It’s not in the trees…..or on my right…or AAACK!!” The rattlesnake was maybe 3 feet to my left and it was upright and looking kind of territorial. I backed away slowly, then took a quick video of it (because if something isn’t captured on social media, it never happened). (I only took a video of the 2nd snake, i.e. no photos.)

My third encounter with a creepy crawly thing was with the tarantula. It was scrambling across the road minding its own business. I’m not a fan of spiders, but got over my initial “ick” factor to document it with my phone.

All in all, I got some great training in, my legs feel totally normal today, I got to see some wildlife up close and personal, and got to eat junk food. It’s a win!

Beautiful view from the summit.

Look at the blue sky!

I really like the color contrast.

Super green vegetation due to the recent rains.

Me and my (baby) Coke!

*”Slytherin,” of course, refers to one of the 4 school dormitory houses in the Harry Potter universe (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin). The Slytherin house mascot is a snake and typical characteristics of Slytherin students include cunning, resourcefulness, and ambition. The main villain of the Harry Potter universe is Lord Voldemort, who is a Slytherin and could talk to snakes. For the record, all online “sorting” tests I have taken indicate I am a Gryffindor (courage, chivalry, determination, and just plain cool). I believe my snake encounters yesterday prove my courage and my photos/videos prove my determination to capture the best and most interesting content for my readers. I cannot communicate withs snakes, although I DID verbally express my gratitude to the 2nd snake for letting me know it was there, i.e. rattling!