I can’t get this place out of my head.
Places strike me, probably more than most things. But when I saw this video on The Culture Trip Facebook page, something shifted.
I need to do this hike, I realized.
Since I visited Arizona last year, I’ve longed to return. My climb up Piestewa Peak was by far, one of my proudest athletic achievements. It wasn’t a particularly challenging feat for most people, probably.
But the feeling of looking over the city of Phoenix, slightly out of breath, and red-faced, was electric to me.
This is how my trips usually start. An idea. From that video, came internet research, combing through blogs, and asking questions on forums about what it would take to complete the hike to the falls.
It’s about ten miles each way, I learned, and not for the faint of heart. Though eight miles of it is flat, the unforgiving Arizona sun will make it feel like eighty. I’d need a permit, and would have to plan on staying the night.
“We’ll leave the city the night before, then drive to the beginning of the trail. After getting some rest, we wake up at twilight, strap on some headlamps, and start the hike,” one forum commenter said.
Something about that statement made me want it more.
Most of my best trips start out this way. Fixation. Determination.
Cue the El Condor Pasa.