Down, Down, Down - Camelback Peak, part 4

Phoenix Getaway Travelog #8
Echo Canyon Trail - Sun, 1 Apr 2023, 12pm

The old saying, "What goes up must come down" certainly applies ot hiking. I mean, unless you want to live atop the mountain like a hermit! So after enjoying the fruits of our labor atop Camelback Peak we began our way down.



The upper reaches of the trail— which hardly counts as a trail as much as a bouldering route— were slow going. Even though gravity was now working in our favor, as we didn't have to fight it climbing up, it still wasn't our friend as it was constantly trying to pull us down too fast. It was slow going because with my already tired muscles I needed to stop to rest a lot. Yes, I needed to rest going downhill!



At least some of the time rest spots afforded nice views. This pic (above) shows the view to the southwest across Phoenix.

Once my legs were slightly less rubbery it was time to continue down.



Ah, one of the sections with a rail! I was so happy to see this as it gave me something to hold onto with my hands so that my legs didn't have to do all the work. ...But, good news/bad news: the rail is here because it's really steep. Soon my hands were sore from all the pressure, even with workout gloves.



Remember, what goes up must come down. As it wasn't just one steep section up, it was, like, eight, that means there are eight steep sections going down.



With this two-rail section (pic above) we're near the end. Below this are only two more steep sections. You can see we're getting close to the valley floor.

Unfortunately shortly after taking this picture I twisted my shoulder. I was bracing myself with my hand on that rail on the right. With my arm out in front of me, working to slow my descent, my rubbery legs gave way beneath me. I slipped down a boulder and wrench my arm around behind me.

Well, it's about noon now and we've gotten all the way to the bottom. The last bit of the trail I shambled down, moving slowly so as not to risk a fall. There are no rails there as it's not super steep, but there are loose dirt and pebbles which make it a slipping hazard.

I'm sure I had an "I'm completely done" look on my face. I knew that look from seeing it on the faces of the early risers who were coming down the trail as we started up. It was a butt-kicker of a hike, and I'm not sure how long I'm going to have an aching shoulder— I think I'm going to stop at a drugstore for some lidocaine rub on the way back to the hotel— but it was worth it. In beauty I walk.

Taking it Easy, Keeping it Lazy

Phoenix Getaway Travelog #9
Back at the hotel - Mon, 3 Apr 2023, 10:30pm

After we finished our hike up-up-up and back down-down-down Camelback Peak this afternoon it was time for lunch. We ate at a small Navajo-Mex restaurant. It's "-Mex" because the styles of food are (northern) Mexican, with tacos and tostadas and burritos. But it's Navajo because a) the owners and staff are all/mostly Navajo, and b) the specialty on the menu is frybread. We both had open-face frybreads piled high with various toppings (meat, beans, cheese, lettuce, sauce) a la tostadas.

Muscle stiffness was setting in for me so I gobbled a bunch of Ibuprofen with my meal. Afterwards we visited a Walgreen's drugstore to buy topical painkiller for my wrenched shoulder. I considered Voltaren gel and Aspercream. I went with the Aspercream figuring I was already taking Ibuprofen in pill form for my legs. Voltaren is basically topical Ibuprofen, and I didn't want to overdose it. Aspercream is a different type of medication, an analgesic versus an NSAID, so they're safer to combine.

Back at the hotel I slathered some of the pain cream on my shoulder and changed for the pool. That's right, after a butt-kicker of a hike we're going to the pool! And not just a pool but the hotel's lazy river.



Hawk and I both wondered if me lying prone atop a float and going around the loop for 2 hours would aggravate my shoulder. You know what? It didn't. It was actually awesome. Awesome not just to relax but to actually be lazy. I mean, it's a lazy river. If you paddle to go faster, the lifeguards throw you out. ...Or I imagine they would, if there were actually any lifeguards.

Our lazy rest of the day included more than just the lazy river. After lazily floating around for about 2 hours I stretched out on a chaise lounge under some shade. I lazed there until Hawk was ready to go in, around 5pm. Then we lazed up in the room toghether. I stretched out on the bed while Hawk took the sofa. (There was room for both on the bed but she preferred the sofa.)

After a few hours of lazing in the room it was time for dinner. We'd had a late lunch— and I'd supplemented mine with a delicious milkshake from Jack in the Box— so we weren't super hungry. We ate leftovers in the room. I still had several slices of deep dish pizza left over from dinner the night before. I ate two and left the rest for Monday's breakfast.

After dinner we changed back into our swimsuits, which were still damp, and headed down to the hot tub. We had a good long soak and made conversation with the other folks there. One works at a company that is a customer of mine but hasn't heard about our product— and desperately needs it. She didn't want to give me more than her first name (I understand women feeling a bit cautious when meeting strangers half-naked) but I told her how to find out more about our software, and she said she'd look it up.

Okay, doing some selling in the hot tub was definitely not lazy! But soon we toweled off, came back to our room, and vegged with TV and computers. I've rubbed on another treatment of Aspercream as my shoulder was getting achy again. The cream definitely helps though it doesn't completely solve the pain. It's enough at least to make it ignorable when I don't think about it.

Now, it's off to bed. We've got more lazing to do tomorrow morning!