A few weeks ago Ydalia & I hiked Camelback Mountain here in Phoenix. Ydalia is my best friend who has been in my life since the beginning of high school. I am so thankful that I have her and my other best friend, Destiny, here in Phoenix with me. College is rough as it is and I can’t imagine not having them here.

Hiking is really popular throughout the state of Arizona. Phoenix has a few mountains of its’ own and as new residents it felt right to try every mountain at least once. Ydalia & I had hiked Piestewa Peak before and this was our first time hiking Camelback. Living in Phoenix you’ll always hear people argue about which hike is harder — Piestewa or Camelback. Piestewa wasn’t too bad. It was challenging but the most difficult part was right before the very top of the mountain. Camelback… a whole different story. This is me, telling you, that Piestewa is nothing compared to Camelback.

As far as fitness goes, I’m really bad at it. I workout not necessarily when I can but when I want to and it’s very rare that I really ever “want” to workout. So yeah, I’m very average in the fitness department. Ydalia on the other hand is buff and works at a gym. She definitely is working out every chance she can. Same with Destiny, she’s super buff and works at a gym as well. Destiny’s husband is also a personal trainer, ninja, and professional body builder. Not really sure how our friendships work but they do.

Anyways, we started the hike and it was cool at first. Lots of “oohs & ahhs”, whatever. We get to the first turn around  the mountain and it’s like a straight wall up, not kidding. I knew I was going hiking but what I did not know is that we would be rock climbing. I’m very serious when I say you’re gonna be on your hands and feet for this hike. From that point on things continued to escalate, literally. It was a full-on, intense climb up. I died like once if not twice, ask Ydalia for verification if you think I’m being dramatic.

In the end, I did make it up the mountain. Ydalia made it up like 10-15 minutes before me but I’m just really thankful that I got to the top to be honest. If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew I could take cool pictures at the top of the mountain, I don’t know how I would’ve done it. It was very hot and I wanted more water. Hiking Sucks (-: