Camelback Mountain is one of the most popular hiking destinations in Arizona. Standing at an elevation of 2,207 feet, the mountain’s profile represents a kneeling camel (hence, its name). Camelback became a Phoenix City Park back in 1968 and it welcomes hundreds of thousands of hikers on an annual basis.
Preparing For the Hike
Hiking the mountain was quite a beautiful and rewarding experience, but I will say, it was far from easy. I consider myself to be in fairly good shape and even so, without the right preparation, it’s possible I would’ve called it quits before reaching the top. Here are some tips to keep in mind before deciding to conquer Camelback:
- Decide which trail you will be hiking. There are two ways to get to the top of Camelback Mountain: The Cholla Trail or the Echo Trail. In a nutshell, Cholla is for hikers with intermediate experience while the Echo trail is for climbers with more advanced experience. You can read up more on the trails in the official website here to decide what works best for you. I really enjoyed the Cholla trail and plan to hike it again.
- Bring the right gear. I cannot emphasize how much more enjoyable this hike will be if you are prepared. You don’t want to spend time worrying about getting burned, running out of water, etc. Take the time to prep yourself accordingly depending on which trail you will be taking. I can almost guarantee you will run out of water. When you think you’ve packed enough water, pack more. I bought some Solomon hiking boots at the Scottsdale REI (ordered ahead and picked them up) and although they were pricey, every penny was worth it. Don’t forget to wear your thick socks!
- Get there early. If you want a parking spot and to avoid the brutal heat, you’ll want to plan your time of arrival. If you can go on a weekday, it will obviously be less crowded and more ideal. My coworker and I were able to squeeze the hike in on a Wednesday afternoon in April without an issue. We Ubered there from our hotel to avoid having to scavenge for a parking spot (parking fills up pretty fast). If you go on a weekend, it’s recommended that you get there no later than 7am which sounds brutal, but hey, I’m just the messenger. Make sure you are timing your hike to finish up before sunset to avoid being fined.
- It’s not a race. Unless you are trying to beat the fastest Cholla trail ascent time of 27 minutes, for the love of god, take breaks! It can be tempting to force yourself to keep hiking, but give your ego a rest and enjoy the view. I must have stopped at least 10 times on my way up to catch my breath. This can also be a great time to get some pictures and admire all the wildlife that you would’ve otherwise missed. It took me a little over two hours roundtrip, which is about average.
- Be smart. These trails aren’t a cake walk. Do a little Google searching and it’s no secret that people have fatal accidents on this mountain. Toward the top of the Cholla trail, the path disappears and your indication of where to climb whittles down to the occasional blue dot on a rock. I highly recommend not going on this trail alone. It can be very discouraging and terrifying to be lost on the side of a mountain. We got lost on the side of the mountain with someone who had even hiked the trail multiple times! We eventually found our way back to the trail because I realigned ourselves with a golf course down below that I had noticed earlier on the hike. Being aware of your surroundings can literally save your life on this hike.
There’s no better feeling than when you finally reach the top of Camelback. You share a sort of giddy excitement with the other hikers who are up there at the same time (we did it!). Don’t forget to snap a panoramic photo before heading back down. At the end of the hike, I had burned off a lovely 1,424 calories. Needless to say, by the end of the day, I was happily sipping on a margarita by the resort pool.
