Trail 100

Our training hike for the Saturday April 9th was Trail 100 in the Phoenix Mountain Preserves. The scouts in the ward would be accompanying us. They are preparing for their 50-miler for their summer camp. So in total there were 6 boys and 3 adults (Doug and I included).

We wanted to hike the entire Trail 100 which would be 10 miles. However, trying to figure out the logistics of getting the group to the front end of the trail and shuttling a car/cars to the other end was too hard. We settled on doing about 5 miles one way and then turning around and returning to our cars. That turned out to work pretty well.

One obvious challenge was going to be the weather. The news had forecast a 90% chance of rain for that Saturday. And it did. The rain started Friday night and rained through most of the day on Saturday. But that did not discourage the boys at all. They had a great showing and for the most part they came prepared. We did have to insist that a couple of them put on a sweatshirt of ours - these desert kids just don't like bundling up too well. Despite the weather and meeting time (6:30 AM) all the boys who were expected came - and one leader as well.

Doug and I suspected that the boys would be dragging a bit and we might not get a very good workout. So I added a little weight to my pack AND strapped 2 pounds onto each ankle.

Group shot at the starting point. Sheesh! Some of those boys did not want to be in a picture.

We started at the North Mountain Visitors Center at about 7th Street and just south of Thunderbird. The trail took us southeast and we ended up at about 32nd Street and Northern for our turn around spot. The trail included 3 tunnels that took us under - 7th Street, Cave Creek Road, and the 51. As we suspected the older kids decided to slack off and go slow. One leader would stay back and sort of prod them to go faster. But the pace wasn't terribly slow - you could just tell they weren't giving it very much effort. But as ALWAYS happens, when you turn around and head for home those boys were jazzed and energized and stayed out front the whole way.

A nice picture of the group - minus me.

One of the boys started complaining about 3.5 miles into the hike. He wasn't feeling well, etc. etc. I've done enough youth hikes over the years to know that issue is always going to come up. I think I would have told him to tough it out. He was really doing very well. But he wanted to go back. Doing that would have required 1 leader and another boy as well to abandon ship and miss the rest of the hike. I mentioned that it would really be closer to go ahead and get to our turn around spot and call his dad to meet us there. That is what ended up happening and our timing was what you might call "perfection". We arrived at the Dreamy Draw about 5 minutes before the parent arrived. That gave the boys time to use the bathroom there and to just take it easy before heading back.

Here we are at the half-way point. Notice the kid in the blue poncho? He's smiling like it is his birthday or something? He's the one getting picked up. Does it look like he's sick or suffereing to you? Not so much. But then again he is smiling like that in all the pictures. Go back and check it out.

The hike back was uneventful. We all kept putting one foot in front of the other and eventually we made it back to the cars. The other leader seemed to be struggling a little bit with leg cramps or something. He kept stretching his legs out. I, myself, was feeling the extra weight on my ankles. I was getting a pretty good workout - FOR SURE. I would be feeling that workout for several days afterward. But I guess that is a good thing.

This is the only shot of me. I'm in the orange poncho.

One cool thing was on the way back we saw a geocache just off the trail. Someone had left it a mess! Probably some muggle who didn't know what it was. So we stopped and put all the stuff back into the can and camouflagued it a little better.

How was the Trail 100 hike? A real success. It rained/sprinkled for the entire hike. The temperature was probably right at 50 or so. The rain made things look really different - but it was beautiful! Next week's hike? Probably some trails at South Mountain. Anyone want to join us? Let me know.