On my first visit to AZ when I was still living in LA... I was brought here for a hike. I remember thinking, it couldn't phase me, I'm queen of the stairmaster at the gym. LOL. ohhhh was I wrong. This far surpasses any stairmaster at any gym. I couldn't make it to the top that day. This mountain especially with the crazy AZ summer heat kicked my ass!
After moving to AZ, I was determined to conquer it. On my second attempt, I was able to make it to the top. Over the last two years, I've probably hiked this over 30 times, and believe me it does not get any easier each time. But once you make it to the top and see the view you'll see that it's sooo worth it. Now, my next goal is to go up and down twice. So far, I've been able to go up and down 1 1/2 times. It's a great workout.
And yes, I take all my LA friends that visit up here and get a kick out of watching them dying trying to climb it. It's definitely different from what we're used to out there.