Outside AZ: Camelback: Don’t forget your water.

Today, as part of my pre-Grand Canyon training routine, I headed over to Camelback to test out my shoes, train my legs, and confirm if my new Kuhl shirt really does lower my skin’s surface temperature by 7 degrees. None of this testing was scientific but it was all on my mind. As it was midweek and midday, the trailhead parking was not the usual pain. You can even see some empy spots in the lot.

My last hike on Camelback was almost exactly a year ago during last year’s pre-Grand Canyon training and today’s trip reconfirmed two ways this trail is more difficult than Piestewa.

1) The trail has more large steps and boulder hopping which not only works your quads and your balance, but also forces you to scramble at times. Some were wearing gloves to help reduce the scratches and wear on their hands. Plus gloves probably help protect hands from the scorching hot metal handrails at the beginning of the trail.

2) The trail is not quite as easy to follow. I think some trail maintenance has been done since last year and a few new “Area Closed” signs seemed to be up along the routes. This can lead you to worry you have veered off the trail when you haven’t. At one point I stopped for a breather in the little shade I found, drank some water and ate my lunch (I was out at lunchtime). I took a photo of downtown Phoenix and some lizards deep in discussion. While I sat there, a bunch of people in separate groups came around the corner and all seemed to look around a bit before figuring out where the trail went.

When I got to the peak, strangely no one else was there. Less than 1/8 of a mile from the top, on my way down, a couple of fellows from Florida asked me where to go to get to the top as they seemed to be a bit lost and my pink shirt was like a beacon on sea. The way down I find the route finding to be a bit more puzzling than the way up, but I was able to figure everything out since I've been hiking there dozens of times now. However, at Squaw (Piestewa, sorry) it is very easy to find the way to the top and a newbie shouldn't have any trouble with it.

Another puzzling factor to me was that out of the dozens of people hiking, I can fairly confidently say that half of them were not carrying ANY water. It was noon, it was 93 degrees, the humidity was up in preparation of a pending rain cloud, and the shade is minimal. Many of these sans water hikers were also shirtless or wearing very little which means they probably needed water way more than I did to cool their body’s internal heating system.

This is one of about a million different ways that we are different than the many lizards that inhabit the mountain. They don’t need as much water because they are ectothermic to our endothermic. They are able to control the blood flow to their skin, darkening or lightening their color based on keeping their body temps at a consistent level (if they are dark they’re trying to warm up, if they’re light they’re trying to cool down). I don’t have the luxury of changing my skin’s blood flow so I take other precautions to lower my body temps to help withstand the physical strain of hiking in the desert. Light layers of clothing, a hat, and ample water are three ways that I do this. I might look weird in my get-up but I just don’t understand why anyone would want to hike at noon in Arizona with NO water.

I’ll have to go back in August and see if this phenomenon still holds true when temps are above 110.