Monday, December 8, 2014

Hiking up and around Payson 260 by Maria Rojas Ceron

Waking up early, on a chilly Saturday morning at 5 am, I got ready for an adventure to hike five miles in the wild forests on an afternoon trip with TGB Hiking Club. It was about two hours away from Phoenix, Arizona to Payson, AZ. In Payson, the cold weather breezed throughout us, as we headed up north on the trail. From far away you could see the pine trees roaming above the mountain top. Climbing up and down the hillside, a forest full of pine trees surrounded us by natural beauty and peaceful silence.
As we first headed straight for a rocky trail way, it was quite confusing in the beginning because we lost its path throughout the route. During that day, we walked forward to discover small hills coming towards us with many trees and logs. In my opinion, it was not complicated to keep going at an average speed that required a few breaks here and there. Traveling at a constant speed made it easier to relax and not get over exhausted. When you are hiking, packing snacks with you will provide energy and also drinking plenty of water is great.
The leafy ground walk covered with red and yellow leaves enabled us to see the rocks beneath them, causing a few trips and stumbles for all the hikers. The view with dark cloudy skies and tall green pine trees had me motivated all the time to reach the top for the best perspective. Reaching half way up, it started getting colder because of mountains approaching the higher we got. Following along, we were split apart as some preferred to run to get there faster, and I jogged with my friend to enjoy the beautiful sight.
We all finally reached to the top of the mountains awaiting to see the beautiful landscape. Looking everywhere about, it was all nothing compared to where we started before in the plain, solid ground. Then, taking our time resting for a few minutes and eating some food for our hungry stomachs, we took pictures of the magnificent view ahead us. At the end, seeing everything from high on top of the rocks was so worth the all the exercise in return. It was now getting time to head back down.
Downhill was much, much easier and a considerately faster pace than going uphill. Going down nearly took us half of what we had done up first. Since you are heading downward, your body pushes you forward, which keeps it at a very quick velocity. It is, although, a bit more dangerous because you can’t control yourself going down sometimes and can fall or get a serious injury. Having precaution is worthy to prevent more accidents that can occur during these activities.
This hike was not so challenging compared to other hikes in my past experiences. It was not so difficult nor easy but it was an average hike that most people can accomplish. It was pretty engaging and I really had a good time hiking and enjoying the beautiful nature among us. It took us most of the afternoon to head there and get back home around five pm, but overall was a pleasing day with the TGB Hiking Club.

I rate trail 260 to Payson, four stars out of five because I truly loved the whole view I experienced on our way there. The hike was awesome because I had not gone hiking in a while and was the first hike in this school year. I enjoyed the hike even though it was kind of short, but it was memorable because the beauty caught my eye and there were also literally pine trees everywhere you looked. The environment was just perfect in the time of fall when the colorful leaves colorful fell from the trees onto the ground. It was an unforgettable trip to where some day I hope to go back and soon visit Payson again.

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