Dessert Hikes

It took me a while to get this posted, but I had the privilege of traveling out west to Arizona a while back. During my stay there, I was lucky enough to be taken on a few hikes that were not only memorable, but challenging. The first hike was outside of Phoenix on the drive out to Tucson called Pichacho Peak. You could get lost for hours in the hills and there's a section of the park that you need gloves to navigate up the steep cable lines. The world was so quiet during the hike. There was a point where sitting and overlooking the earth, the highway and the clouds drifting by made me think - this world is just so big.

The second hike was in Phoenix at Squaw Peak. It was extremely challenging even though I had been working harder at building endurance over the previous two months by running sprints mixed with circuit training. It was 1.2 miles at a steep uphill climb. At the very top you have to stop walking and sort of climb your way up the rocks. Beautiful to look down at the city of Phoenix as the sun streamed across my face. 

The United States has so much to offer landscape and terrain wise. From the East coast to the West coast, the geography drastically changes. Arizona was so different than places I've seen before. There were flowers and plants I never came across before and tons of cactus. I was taken aback by the size of the cactus. They were astounding compared to what I've seen in Texas. Hundreds of feet tall they were - like dessert trees firmly planted and dispersed throughout the dessert.

Arizona offers beautiful brown layers of earth tones and rock. The sun shined intensely, almost blindingly onto the warm clay colored ground. The second hike was tough! Traveling over to Squaw Peak was a hell of a climb! Rising a little over a mile, after 15 minutes of walking up a steep terrain, I was winded. I was surprised by how much steeper the hike was from the ones I've taken in Texas. before I knew it, the peak was approached.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "You must do the thing you are afraid to do." I fear heights. It's something I didn't develop until I became an adult. As a child, I had little to no fear of adventurous situations. But as I grew older, the higher I went - the more afraid I became. When I peer directly over the edge of anything, I immediately imagine plummeting to my death. I'm not sure if it's the fear of falling or the fear of dying that gets me. My heart rate rises and my palms sweat. Heck, my toes sweat. Everything sweats.

But that's the thing - if we don't face our fears, we can't develop. So I climb, I get on airplanes, and I go up high. I look for those opportunities, because if I sit back and live in my fear I miss out on experiences. It also helps to have someone there that knows the way. No one wants to face a fear alone. With one foot in front of the other, we made it up to the top and sat in awe of the world below.

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