Cholla Trail 1   Cholla Trail 2   Echo Canyon 1   Echo Canyon 2 (click on photo for larger, sharper image)

Since I probably go on enough hikes to be officially labeled an "Arizona Hiker", people were often surprised to learn that I had never hiked either trail on Phoenix’s iconic Camelback Mountain, especially since I work a few miles away. Truth be told, I have not really ventured anywhere west of the Salt River, other than the Grand Canyon. In an effort to plug that hole in my resume, I decided to try a quick hike after work. Despite still being either in monsoon season, or right after it, depending on the definition, my coworker insisted that the Cholla Trail, the one you start from the east, was in the shade that time of day.

This hike was all about shadows. As you can see from these first few photos, (the one by the trail sign was actually towards the end, not the beginning) when looking east, shadows prevailed. The shadow of the mountain got longer and longer, until it lost form, shortly before sunset.