Mount Elden

I was a guest of the Arizona Trailblazers Hiking Club for this 15.9-mile tour of Mount Elden and the surrounding area.  Advertised as a 13.4-mile trip, the listed mileage, pulled from some random Internet map, was, surprise, surprise, inaccurate.  Not that this mattered much.  My daughter's cross country coach in Tennessee would say if you can run three miles, you can run five; and if you can run five miles, you can run eight (I tested his theory once, by the way, and found it to be mostly true, though I am in no hurry to put this claim to the test again).  In the same vein, if we're capable of hiking 13.4 miles, then clearly we can manage 15.9.  Still, from a psychological standpoint, it was probably best that we were blissfully unaware of this mileage gap as we started down the Sunset Trail full of vigor at 9:02 a.m.

Pretty views from the Sunset Trail

The Sunset Trail offers a mostly shaded and gradual climb of somewhere in the neighborhood of 1300 feet.  I was told this was the easiest way to the summit, and, after descending the Elden Lookout Trail on the other side of the peak, I was glad we took the route we did.  Pausing only once along Sunset, we kept a decent pace and reached the summit around 11:20 a.m.  The gate at the foot of the staircase leading up to the watch tower viewing deck was open, meaning visitors were welcome, so our climb continued a little further, now easily surpassing 9,300 feet in elevation.  Because the wind was really howling at this high altitude, it was nice having the opportunity to step into the warmth of the watchman's office. This small room in the sky turned out to be a popular place over the next 25 minutes or so, as our group of six was accompanied by several other curious hikers who came and went during this same timeframe.

At the top of Mount Elden

After the group bid farewell to the fire watchman, we began a sharp descent via the popular Elden Lookout Trail.  This may be a well-constructed trail, but there is no getting around its steep grade. With a drop of something like 1800 feet in 1.6 miles along frequently rocky terrain, I was feeling the pain in my left knee, but through it all I remained very much thankful to be going downhill and not up.

Spectacular scenery is found all along the Elden Lookout Trail

We stopped for lunch in a shady portion of the trail shortly after turning north on Fatman's Loop.  This is where I discovered how much I really like PayDay candy bars.  We chowed down quickly and were back on our feet at 1:15 p.m.  I wouldn't have minded resting another five minutes, but because I'm not sure we were even halfway through by this point, it was the right decision to keep moving.

Fatman's Loop runs through this opening in the boulders

Fatman's Loop delivered us to the Christmas Tree Trail, which carried us to a junction with the Little Elden Trail.  At some point along the Christmas Tree Trail, I noticed the sky darkening.  Later, I heard some faint rumbles of thunder which was followed by a few sprinkles and, briefly, a very light shower.  When I caught up with the point man of our group, he was putting on his rain jacket.  There was no precipitation at the moment, but the sky wasn't getting brighter either.  I followed his lead and slipped on my jacket.  Once we resumed hiking, I remember hoping I wouldn't get too hot in my jacket and start sweating profusely.  Well, I certainly didn't overheat because just a couple of minutes later, Mother Nature let loose a lightning bolt that had to have struck within a mile of us. This triggered the skies to promptly release buckets after buckets of rain and hail upon us.  There would be more lightning - some strikes just as close as that first one - along with enough rain and hail to momentarily turn the trail into a river.

Moments before the thunderstorm unleashed its fury upon us

I was praying for the storm to pass, as we hurriedly travelled parallel to the flooded trail.  Thankfully, with perhaps slightly more than 2.5 miles to go, the storm let up.  The two of us in front stopped at a trail junction 2.4 miles from the trailhead to wait on the other four members of the group. About ten minutes later, two members found their way to the junction.  Soaking wet and now getting cold, as soon as our two remaining members came into view several minutes later, we all jumped back on the trail for the final push.

Muddy and sometimes flooded trails in the wake of the storm

I dried off some during the final portion of the hike, though I was wishing I had brought a change of clothes with me.  I did take some solace in the fact that I had a dry pair of shoes waiting in the car, as my boots were of course completely waterlogged.  We were off the trail shortly after 5 p.m.  That, my friends, is what I consider a full day of hiking.  Tired and hungry, we cleaned up as best we could in the trailhead parking lot near Schultz Tank before heading into Flagstaff for a sandwich and beer at The Museum Club on Route 66.  This was a nice, warm and dry finish to what was a long, tough, but, most importantly, fun and well-organized outing with the Arizona Trailblazers.

If would like to see more pictures from this hike, please click or copy and paste the link below into your browser:

https://flic.kr/s/aHskzm3N6r