Hike With (a) PAL!

By Lauri Vickers

Day hiking is one of the all around best activities you can do. It’s cheap, easy (providing you can walk upright) and a great form of exercise. The Phoenix Metro area is practically riddled with great day hiking trails, so Pete Constantino and I are starting up the PAL (Pete and Lauri) Hiking SIG this month. Come on out on Saturday, May 25^th and hike with (a) PAL!

We’ll be taking it easy on our first outing by hiking the Circumference Trail at Squaw Peak Park. It begins in the parking area at the end of Squaw Peak Drive, near the Apache ramada. This trail is mostly flat, loops around in a northerly direction and serpentines its way around the base of the mountain. You can reach Squaw Peak Park by taking the Squaw Peak freeway (SR 51) north to Lincoln Drive (Glendale Road). Turn right (east) and go to Squaw Peak Drive. Turn left (north), and enter the park. Drive to the end of the road, to the Apache ramada. The trail begins there.

Because it’s already getting hot, we’ll be starting at 8:00 AM. Meet us at the Apache ramada, and we’ll take the trail in a clockwise direction. It should take about 2 hours to complete this roughly 4 mile trail. Here are some essentials you should have for the hike:

Good footwear
Lightweight, breathable clothing
1 quart of water (minimum)
Lightweight, non-spoilable snack (nuts, sunflower seeds, granola bars, etc.)
30 SPF sunscreen or higher for all exposed skin
Hat
Sunglasses
Fanny pack or something else convenient to carry all of this in.

Also, please do not leave your purse/wallet in your car. Apparently, despite the examples we see on “America’s Dumbest Criminals”, they have managed to figure out that most hikers leave all sorts of goodies in their cars. So let’s not make this day hike unnecessarily exciting – just tuck your ID, keys and some mad money into your pack. Just listen to all those people who have told you to “Take a hike!” and hike with (a) PAL on Saturday, May 25th!

Questions? Call Lauri Vickers at 480-947-2761 or email konekko@yahoo.com or Pete Constantino at 480-380-5381.