Telegraph Trail - South Mtn. Park

Sunday, November 7, 2010

After a few futile attempts to find the trailhead for this particular trail we found it on this day.  We could see the trail from the lookout on Saturday so we knew that there had to be a place to start on the South side of the mountain.  We researched it on the internet and found directions. 

The parking is limited and the lot was full with just one spot left - lucky for us.  The start of this trail is a really nice paved trail relatively flat with very little incline.  Don't let this fool you the real hike is ahead and it is not paved or flat.  There is a pretty steady incline with lots of steps UP to get your heartrate pumping. 

We were excited to see some paragliders taking off from a top of South Mountain.  They seemed to fly effortlessly like a bird.  They had a nice landing area at the bottom of the mountain and we watched them land and I must say they made look easy.  Even for someone like me that is very cautious about heights, it had me thinking that it could be a lot of fun to give this a try someday.  Overcoming our fears frees us and allows us to become who we are meant to be!

We really enjoyed this trail and it takes you up to the main road so we continued on up to the lookout point.  From the lookout point you can see to the North downtown Phoenix with the lovely brown cloud hanging over the valley.  To the South you can see Ahwatukee and the remaining farm land  that hasn't been taken over by developers.  Really great views from here.

When we were descending there were some Arizona Cowboys going up the mountain with their horses and little pack mule.  The little pack mule was so cute he knew the path that they were taking and caught up to his Cowboys quickly.

We never know what we will see when we are out on the trail but it's always better than anything we would have seen sitting at home watching the TV!  I encourage you to get out there and enjoy the wonderful trails that Arizona has to offer.  This was another great day of hiking and I'm happy to report once again that I'm even more in love with my new boots than I was yesterday.