Yes, near Phoenix.
How far will you walk tonight?
MarEE
#22
I travel to Tempe for business several times throughout the year. Haven’t had a chance to go hiking though as most of my trips are short. Any hiking spots you recommend for the next time I’m out?
BTW - stay cool. I know it’s started heating up out there. Was just out last month…
KevinB
#24
If you need to stay close to Tempe, and only have time for a quick hike, then South Mountain, Camelback Mountain, or Piestewa Peak are good choices. (It’s been years since I’ve been to any of those places though.)
If you have time for a proper day hike, then the Superstitions or the Mazatzals are a better choice. Here’s a photo that I got from the Boulder Canyon Trail in the Superstitions from earlier this year:
Here’s a shot taken from the Y Bar Trail in the Mazatzal Wilderness:
MarEE
#25
Thanks, Kevin. I now Have those locations saved as I should be back out within the next month or two. Will try to extend my trip so I have time to complete a good hike. 
KevinB
#26
Yeah it’s warm here now, though it was only in the high nineties when I was out earlier this evening. It was 106 when I started my hike a week ago.
I’ve been bringing three liters of ice water mixed with an electrolyte solution in my hydration reservoir. In addition, if I run out, I have an extra 40oz bottle of water in my backpack. On really hot or long hikes, I carry two reservoirs for a total of 6L of water.
MarEE
#28
Do you usually hike morning or evenings? Looks like I’ll be in Tempe sometime next month and will need to plan when it’s not so hot to hike since the heat is a trigger for my seizures.
KevinB
#29
The coolest time of the day is (usually) around sunrise which, today, occurred at 5:19am. However, there is light well before that time. If I were disciplined enough to do it, I’d be waking at around 4:00am and then hiking during the early morning hours. But that would mean that I’d need to go to bed at around 8:00pm in order to get eight hours of sleep.
There have been some summers when I’ve done this, but I haven’t so far this year.
I lead a hike at a local county park on Fridays. We start at 6:00am, which is hardly optimal to avoid the heat, but it’s a compromise which mostly seems to work.
I’ve also been hiking in late afternoon / early evening. This is close to the warmest time of the day, but the sun is going down and things cool off slightly over the course of a two to three hour hike. I’m fairly well acclimated to hiking in these conditions and, as noted in an earlier post, I take precautions to stay well hydrated.
July and August are usually the most difficult months to hike in the Phoenix / Tempe area. It’s not only hot, but the humidity is usually up due to the annual monsoon. If you want to hike in AZ during those times, it may be better to go up north. Last summer, I did some hikes in the West Clear Creek area. Morning temps were in the mid to high sixties and warmed up to the mid-eighties. Temps in the Phoenix area on those days were around 110.
SarahSlan
(Sarah Slancauskas)
#30
I’m in the UK and this is the river Wye. I went for a walk at lunchtime for an hour along this river and surrounding greenery. It’s so easy to go through life completing tasks, always busy, continually on a mission to here, there and everywhere. I find it easy to load my day with to do lists and forget that I’m Alive! Forget to look at the world. I’m building walking and time in nature into my life in an active way and it’s helping me in immeasurable ways. I really recommend doing this if you can, even if it’s once a week.
Untraceable
(Chris)
#32
I try subscribing to the 10min walks. I try popping out of the building 2-3x a day to nab a 10-20min walk around the complex. The 3/4 scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial is being set up here right now. Pretty powerful stuff. Never seen the actual memorial. The shear volume of names is sobering
MarEE
#34
Could not agree with you more, Sarah! 
I’m trying to do the same as I keep working harder and harder but have not been making time to “smell the roses.” I’m looking forward to start running at the beach again (had foot surgery in April) so no more excuses! Also, putting a nice vacation on the calendar to go enjoy the scenery somewhere else.
Thanks for the reminder.
KevinB
#35
This morning I led a 10.3 mile hike in McDowell Mountain Regional Park. A good portion of the hike was in the South Wash shown below…
OldDoug
(Doug)
#36
Kevin, beautiful photograph! I literally got goosebumps from looking at it.
Ah, the western U.S…
KevinB
#37
12.6 miles on an early morning hike at my local county park. Temps were warm, but not especially hot, starting in the low- to mid-eighties climbing to the mid-nineties by the time I finished. I brought 6 liters of water with me and drank well over half of it.
KevinB
#38
6.1 miles in McDowell Mountain Regional Park. Temperature was around 104 when I started, but felt better and better as the sun went down and night fell.
