Ahh Camelback Mountain. I have deep connections with this place.
Growing up in Tempe off of Priest, I always remembered to look for Camelback mountain to know where north was and I was never lost. It was the only mountain I could see out the front window of the house, and going down Priest everyday for school (from kindergarten all the way to ASU!) Priest Dr seems to line up perfectly with the peak of the mountain, as if when you keep driving, you'll drive right to the top.
Well the connections continue. About a week after meeting my girlfriend I suggested this hike. We've never done it before (although I've done tougher hikes) and the biggest thing she hiked was A mountain.
It was a challenge for sure, starting with parking. We ended up taking this shuttle that took advantage of the situation (in a good way) so we didn't have to park a mile away and walk. That was only time we had to do that though. We both struggled but enjoyed the different levels of difficultly along the way.
Since there are enough reviews about what to expect here are some more fun stories I have with this mountain.
One early morning (we try to start before the sunrise) we went up after it had rained the night before. When we rounded the steep rock climb right before the last stretch (where you can start seeing south) and there was clouds everywhere.... below us. It was like we were floating on a cloud. Then when we got to the top we watched the sun rise above the clouds. That was an experience I thought I would only have in Hawaii.
Another afternoon, we brought a friend and did a "sunset" hike, were I knew we would be watching it sometime along the way. We played track and football together in high school and he looks more fit than me but apparently looks can be deceiving! The second we got to the peak we looked back and seen the last bit of sunlight disappear behind the White Tank mountains. It got dark fairly quickly and we found ourselves being the last people off the mountain and using our cellphones as flashlights. DONT get yourself caught up here in the dark if it's your first time! We've done it a bunch of times now so I have an idea of where to go, but it's extremely difficult and easy to get off trail in certain points if you don't know where you are going.
One last story, we were going down one morning and this guy, I will call him Mogli, ran past us barefoot! We tried to keep pace with him but it was like he was parkouring down the mountain! It was funny seeing the reaction and comments to this real life jungle book character of the hikers coming up.
If your friends with me on Yelp, hit me up for a hike sometime!
Protip: Check out my pictures, they all go with my stories I shared.