| Trip Report: |
10/05/04 (Tuesday): Sunny and hot again to mid 90’s. I was up by 9am and working on the computer most of the morning. There was an 11:45am break in the exhibitor area but it was pretty sparse both with exhibitors and attendees. After hanging out for about twenty minutes, I headed back to the room to check out. The University of Phoenix is nearby, and I hoped to get a meeting with them this afternoon. After numerous calls to both the local and Atlanta office, I finally heard back from the National Account manager who was on his way to Philly. He could book me on a walk through but was unable to meet today. So I opted for about an hour at the pool, then headed to Camelback Mountain for a hike 2+ mile hike up the mountain. I hit the trailhead around 4pm and was surprised to find so many people on the mountain this afternoon. It seems that the locals use this trail as their personal stairmaster. The route was packed with people in aerobic clothing hauling both a water bottle and Ipod to the summit. I didn’t have my day pack with me on the business trip, and left my water bottle in the car (since I didn’t want to carry it.) This was a stupid mistake. It was 90+ degrees and there was over 1000 feet of elevation to climb. After ¾ of a mile, I was dizzy and nearly delirious. Fortunately, another hiker gave me some water and I bounced right back into shape. I felt pretty good by the time I hit the summit, and the 360 degree views were spectacular of the City of Phoenix and the surrounding mountains. It was really cool watching all the planes approach and land at the airport to the south. After about 20 minutes on the summit, I hiked back down and passed a number of people that were still headed to the summit. The park closes at sunset, but there were as many people headed up the mountain as headed down it by 5:30pm. |
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