Day 16 (I think) - Part 1 maybe?

I woke from my suburban porch camping to a blue sky (not a real shocker in the Arizona desert). Stepped into the condo and opened up some Trader Joe's eggplant and had a morning feast and finished Day 15's entry on laptop out on the porch away from Satan Kitty and her dander.

Upon completion of my microwave bounty, I headed out for a little ride to Camelback Mountain to for a hike (go ahead an check it out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelback_Mountain ) on F.G. Superman. I wore hiking shoes instead of my cycling shoes for the few miles to the trail head. It just felt funny not to be clipped into pedals, almost like getting braces off - it just feels funny but it become the new normal.

At one point, I looked up and saw some beautiful cloud formations (possible cirrus clouds - surely you can't be serious).

As I rode to the mountain, I reflected upon the last time I ascended the mountain approximately 5 years earlier. At the peak of the mountain, I met a gentleman who ascended to the peak following the Echo Canyon Trail. I chose the Cholla Trail. It was late 2005 or early 2006 when we met and began discussing a variety of topics including professions. He was a residential real estate investor (A flipper). I recall telling him that I sold my two residential investment properties in Bethlehem, PA not too long ago because I was certain that people were being stupid and that real estate was the new tech bubble. I will never forget that he assured me that Phoenix was the perfect market and that there was no way real estate was a bubble. He was smug about it too, describing what he would do in his retirement by the age of 40. I was hoping to meet him at the pinnacle of the same mountain to see how far he had fallen financially. Would I hate to say, "I told ya so dude,"? (how the heck do you do this punctuation here????) I most certainly would.

If there is one thing I think I can tell in this world, it is when people are being irrational. I saw the same in the tech bubble. I recall reading about in the Wall Street Journal about 4 guys in a transmission repair shop who would run over to a computer set up in the service area and make day trades for AOL stock. I AM NOT SMART, but even I knew that was stupid!

I hit the trail head for the Cholla Trail. At the trail head, I locked up F.G. Superman to a no parking sign (primarily out of spite). I met a woman at the base of the well-traveled trail and invited her to join me on the hike up. She advised she had just come down (she wasn't even sweating - not fair - I sweat looking at a sunset on television) and was awaiting her friends. Of course Capt. Babbles told her what I was doing on my bike journey, gave her my Vagabond card and discussed what I planned to do to raise money. She was rather excited to see the blog. Right about that time, her 6 or 7 friends returned from the trail. I suddenly became Kenny Kodak and took a photo of the posse. The woman I initially met told the others about my journey. One shook my hand and said, "Mazel tov!" First time I had ever been wished good luck in Hebrew. Maybe she saw my last name on the Vagabond card at a quick glance and thought it said Schwartz...Eh, I'll take it! I'll take luck, good fortune and blessings.

Up the trail I started. I recalled the trail fairly well and was hopeful to get photos of some creeping, crawling, slithering, flying or undulating creatures. I'm still on a mission to photograph the spry desert quail. They are about as elusive as a good family owned pizza shop in Phoenix.

There were a few folks that blew past me, but being in fairly good athletic condition, I was able to head up the mountain fairly easily. However, there were times when I absolutely positively had to stop, suck down some water and suck in some oxygen. The ascent, in parts, was hand grabs and hop ups (new climbing terms I just made up). Ultimately I was able to make it to the top, photograph a few critters and take some pretty photos

A lizard of some sort. Don't have my Audubon book. Oh, that's for birds.

This guy saw me coming and ran up and posed for a nice front shot!

Looking up at the vertical I needed to climb along the way.

Flat Stanley and I at the peak of Camelback Mountain.

Place with a view.

Another place with a view.

Heading back down.

Another view - This is for the golfers like Tara.

Yet another view.

Kind of funny...the dark flat patch is new since the last time I was hiking here. It's on a flat between the peaks for helicopters to land for knuckleheads who forget water and pass out I suppose.

Kind of hard to see, but Stan the Man is hanging on a saguaro cactus. Pretty gutsy call for the flat dude. No injuries were reported.

 And so as I headed down I decided to jog a bit to keep my fitness level high. As I ran, I was listening to Audioslave and the Foo Fighters. Wow! What a kick in the pants to get downhill. Then you throw in some Rage Against the Machine, "Testify" and you have some motivation! I was singing along with the boys and loudly I might add! I don't care who hears me on this mountain. But one thing I noticed when running and hopping up and down and around rocks, obstructions and chaparral  - I grunt a lot! As I proceeded, I paid attention to my utterances. I'm a male version of Monica Seles when running! I quickly looked for some stalker with a knife. (Let's see who gets that reference.)

So I tried my darnedest to photograph a desert quail, but got nothing. Otherwise you'd see a photo of one here.

Tonight is a chillin' evening and just gonna grab some Starbucks coffee perhaps and a light meal. Tomorrow, no plans yet, and I like it that way! Thursday, well, that's a different story.

Peace.