Best Hike + Time!

[Borknagar]

What hike do y'all do most often and what is your best time?

My favorite hike is probably camelback,
Can do about 24-25 min up and 13-15 min down.

-Borky

[PaleoRob]

There are three different things here: best, favorite, and most-often.
Most-often is probably the Glen Canyon Dam tour, since I work there in the summer and do it 2-4 times a day. Time never really changes, since we're on a schedule.
Down here, it is CG mountain to the Radio Tower. About 25 minutes each way seems to be average for me.
Best hike - probably the Bullet Canyon/Government Trail hike I did a few years ago with a good crew from HAZ.
Favorite hike - ??? Lot of them I love.

[Jim]

I used to do Elden in Flag the most, best time was something like right on 55 minutes up, and about the same down. I never got into down as much as up. I did Humphrey quite a bit, too. I know I did it up in under 2 hours, I want to say 1:45 once. As I'm moving away from boots, my times are way up, but as I also moved away from Flagstaff, I'm away from hiking areas so I don't have stuff right there to do and so I'm not in the shape I was in September. What we do have is accessed via dirt roads or requires a drive to Colorado, or back to Flag. Plus, I'm working now. Point to this ramble? I expect times for my hikes, even my hikes I've done close to 200 times, to go up.


Most often: Elden, followed by Humphrey via 2 different routes, and then everything else.
Best: Unsure, there are so many. I have some notable top ones that spring to mind, but nothing that stands out purely as the very best. Since most of what comes to mind is not so much a pure hike as a hike and scramble or something in mountains like the Sierra or Rockies, and not just a hike, I would say my "best" hike might be my 50 mile Gila trip last spring. I had wanted to do that for almost 7 years, and had great conditions for it.
Favorite: Unsure. It changes. In the past, it might have been Elden or Humphrey in winter, or something in Sedona, or maybe Kimball via Finger Rock, or the Bright Angel Trail. I would really like to go back into the Gila, so I could say that again. I think the more you hike, the less likely you are to have one favorite and no others. I guess if there was only one hike, and no other, that I could do for the rest of my life, as many times as I wanted, at any pace as I wanted, and then it would be: Catalina State Park to Mt Lemmon. No, it doesn't have absolutely everything, but is a very good hike and it has a ton of elevation gain.

[azbackpackr]

I have lots of favorites. I think the Grand Canyon route I just did a couple of weeks ago, four days, Tanner-Escalante-New Hance was pretty memorable. A backpacking trip in the Sierras for a week, which was kind of a horseshoe loop and culminated in climbing Mt. Whitney. The Grand Canyon Pt. Huitzil route is memorable for its difficulty, and the great Royal Arch and waterfalls. (5 days, but I could have used 6.) I am not going to mention Havasupai (well, I just did) because it is such a tourist hike. I like it, though. I'd go again, just to see the new waterfalls since the big flood. Waipio to Waimanu in Hawaii. The Gila Wilderness in New Mexico. All are contenders. But I don't do many repeats when it comes to backpacking, I always do try to go somewhere different. With Grand Canyon, at this time I am trying to complete the South Rim trails. It does take time. North Rim will be next!

For me, although dayhiking is fun, it is done with the idea of being in shape for backpacking. I do a lot of repeats with dayhiking, since I pick the trails close to home, such as Elden, that Jim mentioned. Sometimes I also dayhike to kind of scout the trail a bit for a future backpacking trip, especially when I lived in the White Mtns. I also like off-trail hikes. I like to explore. Or sometimes I'll hike an easier trail just to look at it to see if I think I am up for riding my bike on it.

I always thought it would be fun to take a journey around the state, with the 50+ 7 minute maps, and do a couple of hikes on each of the maps.

[wyandot]

Ooh,ooh, I have data!

The hike I have done most often is a North Mountain/Shaw Butte circuit which I make into a loop using an old trail down the back of North Mountain. Starting at the Visitor's Center, this is a 5.76 mile, 1572 ft AEG good workout hike. Since I got a GPS and started keeping a personal log on 1/1/2006, I have hiked this loop 576 times. My best time was 1:36 for 3.58 avg mph, but I am usually around two hours, a little slower on summer middays and a little faster in the winter.

My favorite hike: Sure can't answer that one. Which one of your children is your favorite???

[Trishness]

What hike do y'all do most often and what is your best time?

My favorite hike is probably camelback,
Can do about 24-25 min up and 13-15 min down.

-Borky

Patience young skywalker! Some of us are all about time and some of us are all about the trail and surroundings. Can I get up Camelback? Yes but if I tried to do it in 25 mins you'd be calling SAR. But then I'm old and slow. And that is my choice these days.

My favorite hikes would be anything in Escalante, Bryce Canyon or the Grand Gulch in Utah....neither one which I wanted to end anytime soon so I took my time. It was funny because my best time was also in Kane Gulch where my friend and i hiked down 4.5 miles in 1.25 hours.....I think the Cougar tracks we saw had something to do with that.

[kingsnake]

North Mountain / Pointe Tapatio, because it is literally out my back door ...

[Borknagar]

What hike do y'all do most often and what is your best time?

My favorite hike is probably camelback,
Can do about 24-25 min up and 13-15 min down.

-Borky

Patience young skywalker! Some of us are all about time and some of us are all about the trail and surroundings. Can I get up Camelback? Yes but if I tried to do it in 25 mins you'd be calling SAR. But then I'm old and slow. And that is my choice these days.

My favorite hikes would be anything in Escalante, Bryce Canyon or the Grand Gulch in Utah....neither one which I wanted to end anytime soon so I took my time. It was funny because my best time was also in Kane Gulch where my friend and i hiked down 4.5 miles in 1.25 hours.....I think the Cougar tracks we saw had something to do with that.

I do love taking time on hikes and enjoying the scenery, the sounds, the animals, the night sky... I love that stuff! I climb camelback almost every day and I am training for long distance running and in my experiance running up and Down camelback a couple times is a great warm up and extremely fun to do! Way more fun than boring running on the side of the road!!

However, whenever I see an older person walking the trail I ways think how I want to be when I get older. I would hate to be the type of oldy who simply walks back and forth from the kitchen to the tv room! You and all the other older hikers are my inspiration to always stay active

[chumley]

Just out of curiosity, what's with the bold red type?

[azbackpackr]

I do love taking time on hikes and enjoying the scenery, the sounds, the animals, the night sky... I love that stuff! I climb camelback almost every day and I am training for long distance running and in my experiance running up and Down camelback a couple times is a great warm up and extremely fun to do! Way more fun than boring running on the side of the road!!

However, whenever I see an older person walking the trail I ways think how I want to be when I get older. I would hate to be the type of oldy who simply walks back and forth from the kitchen to the tv room! You and all the other older hikers are my inspiration to always stay active

Well, I'm on the downhill side of 58, and first went backpacking when I was 18, although I had done a lot of dayhiking before that. I joined the Sierra Club chapter in San Diego when I was 20, to find more people to go backpacking with. Most of the folks were in their 50's. One guy in particular I enjoyed backpacking with was 79 years old. His name was Eul Fisk, and he liked to talk about how he had driven his whole family out to California from Missouri when he was 12, barefoot. He was the only one who could figure out how to operate the car, and he didn't own any shoes. He took his backpacking groups to some real out-of-the-way places. He also was more than 10 years older than my dad. My dad was a great guy, but he never did stay fit, despite my mother's efforts to try to help him with it. So, looking at my mom, who was relatively fit, and old Eul Fisk, I made a CONSCIOUS DECISION at age 20 to live my life in such a way that I would stay healthy. That meant a healthy diet, and lots of exercise. I also did a lot of meditation and yoga over the years. I never did smoke cigarettes, and I never did like to drink much. I have pretty much stuck to that my whole life, and it has paid off. I not only backpack, I run rivers, mountain bike, and can rock climb 5.9's.

So that's the advice to you, courtesy of the geriatric department!

[WilliamnWendi]

Peak 2429 is probably the most hiked for elevation but that was just when I first began stretching my toes. Most often hiked would be Reach 11 but mileage and times varied. I am always looking for critters so I get slowed down a bit.

I rarely do Camelback or Piestewa. The views from each is not worth all the crowds and getting bumped by the speed walkers (Not a dig, but there are few that are more concerned about making time than being safe). I had one lady bump into me just as we starting, bump into me half way up , bump into me on her way back down again. I began to imagine ways of helping her speed up down lap. ;)

I hike for the things I can see and touch more than the mileage and times. My "Best Times" are usually the times I get a little lost and struggle to find my way. My best "Mileage" are the miles done with my wife.

Regardless how you choose to enjoy your time on the trails, have fun and stay safe

[imike]

Well, the one done most often is certainly not my favorite... and since I use it for training I'm usually lugging along heavy packs, so the times are often not very impressive. It climbs for 3100 feet over three miles... I can recall consistently clocking around 2 hours up with a 45# pack at a heavier body weight.

Favorite: Finger Rock Trail in Tucson...years ago, usually up in an 1h 45min unless doing multiples, then slowed down to hit 2h 25min on each loop.

2012: hope to refine Guadalupe Peak over in Texas to less than one hour for the Ascent (3100'/4 miles)...

[Borknagar]

I do love taking time on hikes and enjoying the scenery, the sounds, the animals, the night sky... I love that stuff! I climb camelback almost every day and I am training for long distance running and in my experiance running up and Down camelback a couple times is a great warm up and extremely fun to do! Way more fun than boring running on the side of the road!!

However, whenever I see an older person walking the trail I ways think how I want to be when I get older. I would hate to be the type of oldy who simply walks back and forth from the kitchen to the tv room! You and all the other older hikers are my inspiration to always stay active

Well, I'm on the downhill side of 58, and first went backpacking when I was 18, although I had done a lot of dayhiking before that. I joined the Sierra Club chapter in San Diego when I was 20, to find more people to go backpacking with. Most of the folks were in their 50's. One guy in particular I enjoyed backpacking with was 79 years old. His name was Eul Fisk, and he liked to talk about how he had driven his whole family out to California from Missouri when he was 12, barefoot. He was the only one who could figure out how to operate the car, and he didn't own any shoes. He took his backpacking groups to some real out-of-the-way places. He also was more than 10 years older than my dad. My dad was a great guy, but he never did stay fit, despite my mother's efforts to try to help him with it. So, looking at my mom, who was relatively fit, and old Eul Fisk, I made a CONSCIOUS DECISION at age 20 to live my life in such a way that I would stay healthy. That meant a healthy diet, and lots of exercise. I also did a lot of meditation and yoga over the years. I never did smoke cigarettes, and I never did like to drink much. I have pretty much stuck to that my whole life, and it has paid off. I not only backpack, I run rivers, mountain bike, and can rock climb 5.9's.

So that's the advice to you, courtesy of the geriatric department!

Thank you for the advice. It is always nice to hear the words of an experienced hiker and how you are doing the things you love to lead a healthy life style!

[azbackpackr]

Thank you for the advice. It is always nice to hear the words of an experienced hiker and how you are doing the things you love to lead a healthy life style!

You are most welcome! Most of all, HAVE FUN!

[RickVincent]

Flatiron. Up in 80. Down in 60.

[burntlizard]

Hiking for scenery critters, and sounds, you first need to avoid crowded trails. With that being said, I love the area West of Lake Pleasant and their are a various array of trails to choose from. For example; Little Jim, Walking Jim at Cottonwood creek, Baldie Mtn (AKA Francis Rogers), Spring Valley Trail, Governors Peak - Anything in Hells Canyon will offer solitude and lots of quiet, I have rarely seen other hikers while out there.

[drewboy]

Lost Dutchman/Bluff Springs loop in the Supes is my weekly fitness hike when I don't have anything else going on (~9 miles). Typical time around when hiking without stops is 2hr 45min. My record time is 2hr 25min, which involved a fair amount of trail running.

[johnlp]

Couch to fridge for beer 8.36 seconds. Time gets much slower with each beer.

[The_Eagle]

Time gets much slower with each beer.

That's because the distance gets farther, AEG gets higher, and side trips are required ;)