Hiking requires research

Hiking is an extreme sport that everyone can take part in, but without proper knowledge, hiking is dangerous.

I fell in love with hiking. First it was Dixie Mine trail in Fountain Hills, then it was Camelback Mountain, both were fun and easy, and relatively low-impact. Feeling that the third hike needed to be a bit more out of town, my friend and I chose beautiful Picketpost Mountain. Picketpost Mountain is in the Tonto National Forest located on the way to Superior off highway 60.

My friend and I researched it online, trusting our favorite hiking website, we printed out directions, packed plenty of water and snacks, and were on our way. The goal of this hike: get to the mailbox at the top.

Our friendly website told us that by following the directions listed, we would easily reach the top of the mountain, completing the hike after three and a half hours. Three grueling hours later with no mailbox in sight we begin to rethink our hike. Looking back we come to realize we are indeed climbing the high, steep mountain. Thinking the mailbox has to be “just over the next hill” we continued for another thirty minutes.

Spray-painted arrows marking our way to the top became harder to find, we were getting off track. Each rock began to look like it might have had, at one time, an arrow sprayed on it. Looking up we saw the top of the mountain, but no way to get there. Our hike had hit a dead end.

After jumping from rocks over ten feet high, I began to wonder if I would make it down. After taking three bad falls and almost rolling down the mountain, my legs, arms, and hands were covered in scratches, and blood was dripping into my shoes. The whole way down our hearts were pumping, adrenaline rushing through us, we finally made it to lower ground. Looking back at the mountain, we begin to joke about how our “short” hike that turned into a wound filled journey to the mailbox we never found.

The moral of this hike is that we all need to be careful; we need to know where we are going, to do proper research. Not all easy hiking is “easy” to everyone – make sure you are using a trusted source, pack accordingly, and know when to turn around.