Flatiron

Allow me to toot my sweetie's horn for a moment. Last spring, Steve entered a contest through the gym we attend. He set a goal to hike the Superstition Mountains - Flatiron specifically - in a certain amount of time. Not only did he exceed his goal (I think he said he hiked it in under one hour 19 minutes!), he won the contest :) Yay Steve!!

Funny story. I never liked hiking. I grew up in Nebraska - we didn't hike there. Go figure :) I went to Ricks and BYU...could never understand why on earth people went hiking for fun! Hiking was not fun in my opinion. The first time I remember enjoying hiking was on a mountain on the south island of New Zealand. Once I went back to Utah, I did a few hikes and actually enjoyed myself! It was shocking.

When I moved to Arizona, again I became acquainted with hikers. People love it! By this time, I was more open to give hiking a shot. In the past seven years, I've done some major hikes: Four Peaks, Squaw Peak, Grand Canyon rim to rim, and a plethora of shorter and less intense hikes.

Back to Flatiron - Steve invited me to hike it with him last Saturday. Can you even believe we found six hours to do a hike three Saturdays before our wedding?? I know. Crazy! Anyways, on the way to Flatiron, I mentioned being afraid to hike Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. I've never hiked it and always shied away from it because it sounds scary! Steve gently informed me that Flatiron is basically 2 1/2 Camelbacks...wha?? No biggie. I'm always up for a challenge...

(Flatiron is the flat and pointy one in the middle of the mountain range behind me...)

Here are the stats: Difficulty: 4.5 Distance Round Trip: 5.4 miles Trailhead Elevation: 2080 ft Elevation Gain: 2780 ft Avg Time Round Trip 3.5 - 5 hrs
We left at 6:30 AM. Steve had a Camelbak stuffed with trail snacks, the camera, and our hats. I really enjoyed the hike up! It was a challenge, but nothing I couldn't handle :) We set a steady pace and rested when we felt the desire. We stopped to take pictures and just enjoyed the morning! I was shocked how far we'd gone once we made it to the top.

Steve brought tortillas for us to toss off the edge :) Trust me when I tell you he's better at tortilla-frisbee throwing than I am...

Ready...
The hike down was fun as it sprinkled from time to time; it made the rocks and steep waterfall section very slippery!!

We made it!