nature

Mid-year recap, part 2/3

~ reluctantroadie ~ 2 Comments

Continuing with my 2025 recap! In April, I took a quick trip to Victoria, Canada to visit my brother and his family. I found it really interesting that I got an empty row on both my inbound and outbound flights! Amazing. 😀 Victoria is such a pretty city! Its roots go back to England and you can see many British influences all around the city, including FLOWERS, tea shops, and gardens. I enjoyed hanging out with my family, visiting cool coffee shops and bakeries, and taking long walks to enjoy all the lovely flowers.

A row all to myself!
Cherry blossom tree
The smell of freshly baked bread and pastries is one of my favourite things.
Inside a cool concept grocery store called The Market Garden. This market is a refurbished house and each room contains a different type of grocery item and chandelier!
This is the most beautiful grocery store I’ve ever seen.
The soap room.
Specialty treats.
A very polite, a.k.a. Canadian, street sign.
Street gargoyle.
The rest of the pictures in this set are from a walk I took in Beacon Hill Park.
This totem pole is 127 feet and 7 inches tall!

In May, I did 2 fun day trips. The first one was to (finally!) ride at Bean Peaks in Prescott. This is a fun trail system that is modeled after conventional bike parks. That is, most of the trails are “gravity fed,” i.e., downhill! The main difference is that in order to get to the downhill trails, you have to pedal your way up, instead of taking the chair lift up to the top. Bean Peaks is great for all riding levels, as the trails are flowy and smooth. I had a fun day with my friends Janey and Keeley and we appreciated getting out of the Phoenix heat and riding new trails.

Here we go!
Bean Peaks is well signed!

My second May day trip (ha, that sounds funny!) was a hike at Horton Creek with my friend Kate. Horton Creek is quickly becoming one of my favourite areas to visit because it is just so pretty and features a waterfall! We had a gorgeous day and basically had the area all to ourselves. Kate’s dog, Jasper, also had a great time running circles around us and checking out all the foliage. The hike itself is a pretty mellow 8 miles with enough elevation gain to earn a decent lunch. 🙂

Jasper having a grand time!
Water in the desert!
We saw a deer too!

In June, I went on another 2 day trips. Phoenix starts to really heat up in June, so getting out of town is welcome relief. Last year, I rode the Full Sail trail in Flagstaff for the first time and it was so fun, I knew I had to ride it again soon. However, “soon” turned out to be “a year later,” due to schedules and availability. This year, I got to show Janey Full Sail and we both had a blast riding a well designed downhill trail! The uphill riding to get to the start of the downhill wasn’t too bad, since we parked at a different trailhead than where I parked last year. That was a good move on my part because we “only” had to ride uphill for 3 miles instead of 8 miles and could do laps. Beautiful day with good company!

Ah, Humphreys Peak. I’ve hiked Humphreys annually for almost 10 years! I normally hike this with my friend Crystal (for example, see this post), but this year, she couldn’t make it. So, my SAT (self-appointed trainer and husband) joined me this year and we used the opportunity to make this hike our one and only big training hike for our upcoming Colorado trip (more on that in the next blog post!). For the uninitiated, the Humphreys hike is about 10 miles (16 km) round trip in distance and around 4000 feet of gain (1200 m). Because my SAT and I have high altitude hiking experience, I knew that we wouldn’t be adversely affected by altitude sickness. However, since we weren’t in top hiking shape, I wondered how we would withstand the day. (We were fine!) Our hike was great, weather was perfect, and we got to escape the Phoenix oven for a few hours, which is always a treat in summer!

We did it!

Thanks for sticking with me so far! Here’s a bonus picture of a pretty sunflower to end this installment of my midyear and the first half of 2025. Stay tuned for the third and final installment of my midyear recap!

Mid-year recap, part 1/3

~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

Hello, dear readers! I say this every year, but….really….THIS year has gone by SO FAST! I am yet again woefully behind on updating this blog, but I shouldn’t complain because I get to do some cool, fun things. Let’s jump right into recapping 2025!

January in the desert is lovely. It’s cool and one can get outside whenever one wants. Unlike summer in the desert, in the winter, there’s no rush to get outside at dark o’clock in the morning to “take advantage” of the “cool weather” at 5am. Most of you know that I am NOT a morning person and prefer to get as much beauty sleep as possible! 🙂

I started 2025 with a fun ladies’ theme ride: New Year’s sparkle! The next major event for me this month was a local, homegrown mountain bike festival called Hawesfest, which took place at the Hawes trail system in east Mesa. I volunteered at the Hawesfest “kitchen” with my friends Vicki, Tawnia, and Scott and we worked our buns off (pun intended) ensuring that all Hawesfest riders got lunch!

Mountain bike gals posing in their sparkly best!
Hawesfest kitchen crew!
Someone gave me this drink because it had my name on it. Too bad I didn’t like it.
Lunch is almost served.
Look at all the bikes!
There were a lot of games and contests at Hawesfest. This picture is from the mini bike relay race. I am cheering on my teammate.
We had a good turnout!
There were a good number of local mountain bike vendors on site.

February’s trip was a weekend getaway to Bisbee, AZ. I’ve wanted to visit Bisbee for a long time because of the artsy vibe to the town and the famous “Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb.” My SAT (self-appointed trainer) and I hiked the Stair Climb race course and had a fun time finding all 9 staircases. Another cool thing to do while in Bisbee is to drive over to Erie Street, which has been preserved as a quasi-museum of classic 1950’s cars and storefronts. In between all the hiking and sightseeing, we enjoyed some great food, some of which was at Cafe Roka. 10/10 recommend!

We had dinner our first night at Cafe Roka — highly recommend!
Found staircase 1!
One of many colorful murals along the Bisbee 1000 Stair Climb race route.
The end!
Repurposed string instruments.
Nationally renowned bakery!
Erie Street has a lot of vintage cars and storefronts.
Technically, Erie Street is in Lowell, AZ, which is literally 5 minutes down the road from Bisbee.

March is birthday month! My annual Sedona birthday weekend this year turned into “Snowdona” because of a huge dump of snow that weekend. However, that snow only dampened our boots (and not our spirits). We pivoted our plans to include more hiking and less mountain biking, due to the very muddy trails, and took advantage of our amazing Airbnb to cook and eat lots of yummy food (including birthday cake!) and spend some quality girl time. Fun fact: this annual birthday weekend celebrates 5 of us!

All packed up and ready to go!
First stop in Sedona was for chai. The cute pup was a bonus!
Welcome to “Snowdona!”
At our Airbnb taking pictures before diving into dinner. I’m taking the picture in this picture!
Beautiful snowy morning.
The snow was melting quickly on day 2, so we still got to see the beautiful red rock.
Yay, cake! (Excuse the mildly questionable language.)
One of my friends is a great photographer and she insisted on a “photo shoot” to mark my milestone birthday! The dress and shoes were purchased at a thrift store an hour before.
On our way back home, we stopped in Cottonwood for a ride. It was completely dry there!
Group picture — enjoying the gorgeous scenery together!

A couple weeks later, I got to hike Picketpost Mountain with my friend, Gladys. This is a hike I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and the stars finally aligned for Gladys and I to hike this fun trail together. She is very knowledgeable about the trails and hikes in the Superstition Mountains and I felt very lucky to benefit from her guiding expertise! Just take a look at the views from the top! Although the trail isn’t long, there is enough uphill to make this hike a great workout. I enjoyed the scrambling near the top and loved soaking in the views at the top.

RIght before we got to the trailhead, we passed some friends who were doing a backpacking overnighter in the same area!
Here we go! Such pretty light.
The iconic Weaver’s Needle is in the middle of this picture.
Quick photo break — we are definitely climbing!
Paying homage to the rock gods!
We did it! Made it to the summit mailbox!
Enjoying the well-earned view from the top.
And….back to where we started.

Stay tuned for a couple more recaps in the next week! Until then, get outside. 🙂

7 summit hikers…and a battleship in the desert

~ reluctantroadie ~ Leave a comment

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you! How is it the end of 2024 already? The past month has been packed with work stuff, holiday events, and fun outdoorsy things, which is why I’m tardy again in updating this blog! First up, a recap of my now-annual DIY 7 Summit Challenge which occurred on December 7. This year is the 6th year that my hardy crew of hikers have tackled the Herculean task of completing 7 hikes in one day. My DIY event is based on the official 7 Summit Challenge put on by Phoenix Parks and Recreation but without the entry fee! Like last year, all 7 hikes were at South Mountain to help minimize the driving time. Of the 16 hardy hikers that started the day, 5 stuck it out till the end and completed all 7 hikes for a total distance of 21.7 miles (35 km) and total elevation of 5,124 ft (1,561 m). We started the day at 6:32am and ended at 5:21pm, which meant that we took 10 hours and 49 minutes to hike all 7 hikes. This is almost exactly one full hour faster than last year! Here’s a photo dump from the day–enjoy!

Summit #1 attained!
Sunrise during hike #1.
Another sunrise picture.
More sunrise!
Partway through hike #2.
Summit #2!
Summit #3!
My S(elf)A(ppointed)T(rainer) and I on top of summit #3.
Heading down hike #3.
Start of hike #4.
Hike #4 desert landscape.
Summit #4!
Almost at end of hike #4.
Saw horses near end of hike #4.
Hike #5. This trail currently starts differently than normal, due to some maintenance work.
Summit #5!
Summit #6! Apparently, none of us thought there was anything interesting to take a picture of during this hike!
Late afternoon light during hike #7.
Another late afternoon picture.
Summit #7!
Official end time of the day, according to my phone!
My hard-earned dinner!
Happy and tired hikers at dinner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/////////////////~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One hike I’ve been wanting to do for a while is Battleship Mountain. I finally got the chance to do this the week after my 7 summit day, which was great timing, as I was in good hiking shape! So glad that my friend Gladys was our hike leader, as she is very familiar with the area and the hike itself. The Battleship hike is in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix and is rated advanced, mainly due to the “scrambling” involved. According to my Strava statistics for the hike, we hiked 12.47 miles (20 km) and climbed just over 2,600 ft (800 m). The first 4.5 miles are relatively flat and crisscross a creekbed multiple times. Then, you’ll see some rock cairns that mark the point where you start climbing towards the Battleship rock formation. The views are incredible! Totally makes the climb worth it! It was an epic hike with great company and I’m so glad I got the opportunity to do this. Enjoy these pictures!

Smiling and excited to start this hike.
The first 4 miles were pretty easy and relatively flat.
Playing with shadows.
An attempt at taking an artistic photo.
Lots of cacti, of course.
We could see Weaver’s Needle (the pointy thing on the right) for most of the hike.
Finally, we reached the point where we had to start climbing up towards the Battleship!
The back of the Battleship is on the right.
Looking at the back end of the Battleship.
We had to do a lot of rock scrambling to get to the top!
This hike is not the best for those with a fear of heights.
More climbing….
…a fun, narrow connector…
Yes, we climbed up that.
Getting closer!
Inside a cool cave along the way to the end.
Another beautiful view with Weaver’s Needle in the background.
Absolutely gorgeous out there!
Taking a lunch break at the top!
The top is a flat tabletop (i.e., mesa). Canyon Lake is in the center background.
Making our way down the way we came up.
What a cool view!
So happy to be out there!
Taking a look at the aftermath of the forest fires the past year.
We did it!

What? Another post?

~ reluctantroadie ~ 3 Comments

Ha, yes, another post, but this time, a really short one. My SAT (self-appointed trainer, a.k.a., my husband) and I decided (needed?) to escape the Phoenix heat by driving to Horton Creek and doing a little hike. Horton Creek is about 20 minutes north of Payson and is high enough in elevation to bring welcome relief to those who suffer in Phoenix during the summer. It’s easy to get to the trailhead; type in “Horton Creek trailhead” into your GPS and drive about 2 hours. The trailhead is well-signed and has an outhouse. (Click here for an interesting article on the hike and the history behind it.)

The trail itself follows the creek and ends at Horton Springs, which is really lovely to see in the middle of summer. For those who are adventurous and do not mind bushwhacking and extreme elevation gain, you can hike another mile past the springs all the way up to the Mogollon Rim. Although we chose not to do that today, our hike was still about 8 miles with almost 1,500 feet of gain. That may sound impressive, but the trail is pretty gentle and hardly felt like we were hiking uphill! We had lots of shade because we were hiking in a forest and the cooling effect of the creek and springs was very enjoyable. (FYI, if we had hiked all the way up to the Rim, we would have hiked about 9 miles and climbed about 2,450 feet!)

We’ll be back to enjoy the springs again….and maybe climb all the way up to the Rim!

Trees!
An example of the wildflowers we saw.
Much of the trail was like this.
Horton Springs.
More wildflowers.
Butterfly!
Happy to be out of the heat!