Camelback Mountain (Cholla Trail)
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The Cholla Trail is another popular Trail in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. It is one of the two trails that lead to the summit of Camelback Mountain. The Cholla Trail is one of the moderate trails until the final ascent. At that time it becomes a difficult scaling trail. Like Echo Canyon Trail, Cholla Trail is an excellent training trail for hikes such as the Mount Humphries hike because the hiker must scale difficult ascents and scurry over large rocks. This condition exists at the top of Mount Humphries. This Trail is not as well suited for training of the Grand Canyon Hikes. Squaw Peak is far better for that. The geology is far different also. Where Squaw Peak is volcanic in nature, the Cholla trail is de-composed granite, which tends to be very slippery. Where I normally recommend trekking poles on most hikes, I do not recommend them for the Cholla trail. I definitely recommend gloves be worn though. The elevation at the start is 1,423 ft.; and is 2,624 ft. at the summit. Although the Summit is 16 feet higher than Squaw Peak, the total ascent is 1,201 feet, 7 feet less than the Squaw Peak Summit Trail. The trail consists of various grades from the bottom to the top it still averages 18.44% over the entire 1.24 mile length. This is not quite as steep as the 19.06% average grade of the Squaw Peak Summit trail.
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| The Trail Head. | The First Ascent |
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| The Trail up from the First Ascent | Nearing the Ridge |
One of the problems with the Cholla trail is that the hiker must park on Invergorden Avenue, and then walk an additional 1/2 mile up Cholla Lane to the trail head. Once at the trail head you then proceed up the first set of steps which is the trail in front of you. The first section of the hike is relatively steep and is a stair step section of rock erosion dams which are placed close together. Although this section only consists a quarter mile in length, it ascends 148 feet and gets the blood flowing right away. The trail grade then relaxes but is still very stair step in nature.
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| A View to the Southwest | Along the North Side |
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| The Trail Climbs | Looking down from the Saddle |
After a nice relaxed pace you come upon a part of the trail that extends along the ridge. The views from along this section are wonderful. The trail then runs along the north side of the mountain. Once past that section, you come to the saddle. At that point you have hiked 0.80 miles and have ascended 619 feet.
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| The Easy Summit | Up We Go! |
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| Looking down to the Saddle | We're not Alone up here! |
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| The Top is in Sight | View Across to Squaw Peak |
Above the saddle, the hikes goes up the final ascent. During this portion of the hike, like Echo Canyon footing can be treacherous and care must be exercised. Also above the saddle the trail has been well marked by painted blue spots showing the direction. All hikers should be alert to the marks indicating the proper trail for safety. Many of the rocks the hiker must scramble over are very high steps which can create problems for a short legged person. To make this section even more treacherous, the trail again runs along the crest and an unwary hiker could fall to either side. Once at the summit, the view is spectacular. It is definitely worth the hike.
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| Looking Back the Way We Came | The Trail Down |
In this hikers opinion, Cholla trail, like Echo Canyon trail, is a far more difficult a hike than Squaw Peak, or many of the other hikes in the valley. It is no where near as aerobic a hike as others, but it does have other challenges that cannot be found elsewhere. For optimum training, I would recommend a combination of other hikes, with Cholla included to provide a well rounded, well trained hiker.
Larry Wayt (larry@live2hike.org)