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The author hates to exercise but decides to face her worst enemy and hike Camelback Mountain
I settled on a jagged rock and enjoyed the scenic panorama of the
surrounding Valley.
You’re lazy,” my doctor said. “I can’t believe you’d rather take a pill than exercise.”
Lazy. Lazy. Lazy. The word bounced around my brain a few times before settling in the area devoted to defensive reactions. No one had ever said that about me before. I thought about how busy I was—mother of a teenager, wife, graduate student, part-time employee and active member of my synagogue. Lazy?
Reviewing my records, the doctor evaluated the arthritis medication I had been taking for the past year and a half.
“You have to stop taking this. I’m afraid it’ll damage your kidneys,” he said. “If you just exercised a little more, then you wouldn’t have to take this.”
“I hate to exercise. I’d much rather read a book.”
“I just don’t understand that kind of thinking. You’re lazy.”
I vowed to prove him wrong. I’d go to the gym. I’d walk every morning. I might even hike Camelback Mountain. I used to do it every Sunday morning when I was a few years younger, and it wasn’t that bad.
Camelback Mountain, which sits 2,704 feet above sea level and borders Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, plays host to more than 300,000 hikers, rock climbers and curiosity seekers each year. The name “Camelback” aptly describes the mountain, which resembles the two humps and head of a bactrian camel.
Why is it called Camelback?
Because it’s shaped like a camel. The head, which is comprised of Echo Canyon Recreation Area, is made up of layered sandstone. The hump is mainly granite.
What animals and plants will you see? Because of urban encroachment, large mammals are rare on Camelback. You might see smaller Sonoran Desert animals, such as cottontail rabbits, snakes, lizards, Harris antelope squirrels and birds. Desert cactuses include saguaro, barrel, hedgehog, pincushion, jumping cholla, Christmas, staghorn, cholla and prickly pear.
What trails go up Camelback?
• Bobby’s Rock Trail: easy 1/4 mile
• Ramada Loop Trail: easy 1/8 mile • Summit Trail or Echo Canyon: difficult 1.2 mile
• Cholla Trail: a strenuous 1.5 mile that rises 1,200 feet above sea level
—By Erika Haskins
Jeff faces the enemy with me
My 18-year-old son, Jeff, offered to climb Camelback with me. As we
approached the Cholla Trail on a glorious 70-degree January afternoon,
I asked him to drop me off at the trailhead so I wouldn’t have
to make the long uphill trek from the parking area.
Maybe I am lazy.
While Jeff parked the car, I tried to strap on the mini-pack that held my water bottle. The plastic clasps wouldn’t fasten. I tried again. It fit the last time I put it on. Frustrated, I took off the belt and loosened it about two inches to fit snugly around my middle-aged waistline.
Now ready to tackle the summit one and a half miles above me, I took my first tentative steps up the rocky trail. After climbing about 100 vertical feet, I gasped for breath and took what was the first of many rest stops. People walked and ran by me, their lithe, sinewy bodies barely laboring.
Low creosote bushes and cholla cactuses edged the trail, which meandered through the granite like a dry riverbed. Even though the trail was clearly marked, I took a wrong turn and strayed from the path. I put my hand down to steady myself, and my fingers met a bristly barrel cactus, drawing blood. I glanced around, but the trail was empty. Relieved that none of the veteran hikers had spotted my blunder, I found my way back to the path.
“Mom, you’re not doing too bad,” said Jeff, who had effortlessly caught up with me. “Really.”
Photo
by Erika HaskinsSpectacular sunsets await intrepid hikers who climb to the top of Camelback Mountain.
As he continued up the trail, I watched him get smaller until he disappeared around a craggy overhang. The advancing afternoon shade crowded the sunlight on the eastern slope of the mountain. By the time I reached the saddle, a small flat spot a little more than halfway to the summit, I knew I couldn’t go any farther. My legs trembled with fatigue, and my feet burned inside my outdated, cumbersome hiking boots.
As I waited for Jeff to descend, I settled on a jagged rock and enjoyed the scenic panorama of the surrounding Valley. To the west, skyscrapers poked up from downtown Phoenix. To the east, Scottsdale’s fine restaurants, art galleries, resorts and golf courses stretched for miles. To the north lay Paradise Valley, where the median home price exceeds $1 million. Distant traffic, a ringing cell phone and the whine of an airplane punctured the solitude.
The enemy got the best of me
Twenty-five minutes later, I spotted Jeff’s maroon-and-gold
ASU hat coming toward me.
“Why didn’t you keep going?” he asked.
“I’m so out of shape,” I said. “This is as far as I can go today.”
We watched as an elderly man with a knee brace rushed by.
Feeling somewhat defeated, I started for the bottom. As we passed many breathless hikers on their way up the steep trail, I realized I wasn’t the only middle-aged, unfit person trying to prove something.
I won’t concede to my doctor that I’m lazy,
but I have a long way to go before I
reach the top.