Was there a hike today? Need you ask? Else how could we have gotten up to Cloud 9? What’s Cloud 9, you ask. I’ll get to that but first I’d like to tell you about Lori Piestewa.
Our goal today was a two-fer: Piestewa Peak and Shaw Butte, both in the Phoenix Mountain Parks. Thus it was up a ‘0 dark thirty’ in the Macek/Ferguson household. What sounds like a great idea at 9:00 pm doesn’t always resonate well at 6:00 am, especially when it is 44 degrees outside and we’re putting on our ‘winter’ hiking clothing. But we know we’ll be glad we got up and started early. I’ve switched to hot cereal in the morning while Gary is still eating cold cereal and wondering why he’s a bit chilly at the end of breakfast. But, cereal is fast and we were well on our way by 7:45. Our first peak is Piestewa originally named Squaw Mt (and many still use this name which is really pretty derogatory) but which was officially named for Lori Piestewa in 2008. It is one of the iconic Phoenix hikes and we expected to find many others on the trail, even on a Wednesday morning.
We were not wrong. There were more than we usually see on a hike. Many, who had started before sunrise, were coming down already. However, we still found a place in the parking lot. We changed to lighter clothes but still wore more than we have so far this fall. And, up we went. Huff, huff, puff, puff. We had lots of chances to practice our trail etiquette: descending yields to ascending, slower yields to faster, and those with dogs yield to all. On the other hand, even when I am ascending, I might want to yield to anyone. Especially when I am ascending. It was more a climb than a hike with many sections with stones placed as steps, lots of switchbacks (in one place there were 13 in a row) and built with the goal of getting there fast.
Actually, many in the area time their ascent, trying to best their previous time with each new attempt. I could hear them breathing down my neck and I stepped aside. Sometimes, unless I step aside, I never see the surrounding views because I am watching my footing so carefully and this is one of those trails. Thus, I welcomed those climbing faster than I so I could step aside to look around me at the surrounding mountains and the Phoenix skylines.
Some hikes gain elevation but over a much greater distance. This hike gained 1100’ in about 1 mile. That makes it almost a stair stepper hike. Some of the steps were mighty high and more difficult to clamber over. A real thigh burner of a hike.
Now, while I’m climbing, I’ll tell you about Lori Piestewa. That will be much more interesting than listening to me huff and puff. A mother of two children, she was a member of the Hopi tribe in Arizona and came from a military family. She was the first Native American woman to die in combat in the US and also the first woman to die in combat during the first Iraqi War. Do you remember Jennifer Lynch from the Iraqi War who was wounded, captured and then freed? Well, Lori Piestewa was the driver of the Humvee in which Lynch was riding. She was in a maintenance and repair unit driving a Humvee in a convoy which was supposed to pass Nasiriya but got lost and ran into an ambush. She quickly sped up and evaded the first fire but an RPG hit her vehicle, disabled it and slammed it into a tractor-trailer. 3 died but Lynch, Piestewa and another were injured but captured by the Iraqis. Unfortunately her head injuries were so delicate that Iraqi civilian hospitals could not care for her and she died soon after capture.
Then the controversy began. Governor Napolitano wanted to change the name of Squaw Mt. to Piestewa Peak. However, the Arizona rules state that you cannot name something after someone until that person has been dead 5 years. However, after a little arm twisting, the Arizona name was changed. BUT - not the US name. The US Board on Geographic Names policy has the same 5 year policy and stuck to that policy so it was not until 2008 that it was officially named Piestewa Peak.
OK, that’s the story and we’re now at the top. There, wasn’t that much more pleasant than listening to me huff and puff? What a gorgeous view of the Phoenix area. I remember flying into Phoenix once on a business trip and noticing all the mountains around this extremely flat city in the middle. Even then, I never really thought of Phoenix as a hiking mecca until I talked with a Canadian couple in 2010 who snowbird in Phoenix to hike. And, that was the lure for us last year and this. And, have we ever enjoyed finding new trails to hike on.In these two pictures you can see the smog over the city but we can still see the South Mountain range in the background.
This is the kind of hike I really like: challenging but with a terrific reward at the top - and I’m not talking about chocolate. The view is stupendous. Here’s Gary at the top talking to a guy with a knee replacement who is a volunteer in Zion National Park and lives in St. George, Utah. He’s only visiting here like we are.
Look what we found at the top? Now, who in the world would have brought these Christmas decorations up here? But, you know, you’ve got to touch the Christmas Tree at the top or the hike never happened.
Hiking down was a bit easier than hiking up but the steps were still pretty steep. At the bottom, we took off some clothing as the day was getting warmer and drove over to our next hike, Shaw Butte. Now, Shaw Butte is no less a stair-stepper hike. It started as a road for service work on the forest of antennas at the top. Most of the road is gone now and replaced by rocks but it is still steep. On Piestewa we were climbing on rocks, here we were walking up a very rocky bumpy road. But, steep is steep. But, there’s a story for this hike too and I’ll tell you that story as Gary and I plod up this hill. Again, much more pleasant than the plodding.
High up on the south side of shaw Butte overlooking the city are the charred ruins of a swank restaurant where the elite used to meet to eat. Add a mysterious fire, hints of illegal gambling and powerful patrons such as Barry Goldwater and you’ve got a real aura of mystery which survives to this day. It began back in the 1960’s when Richard Barker and his wife, Barbara, purchased land on Phoenix side of Shaw Butte with the intention of building a house overlooking the city. Driving his Harley up the steep winding roads which he built with dynamite he began leveling a piece of land just a short ways down from the 2149’ summit.
“When the first cement truck filled with concrete showed up for construction of the house, Dad had to buy the concrete – and the truck – with a cashier’s check on the spot and drive it himself to the building site,” says his son. After Barker proved the road was navigable, company drivers handled future deliveries. Above you can see part of his road.
Barker built a spectacular home up on the mountain side and the local newspaper did a feature story on it. Then, on a whim, he decided to turn the house into a restaurant featuring steak, seafood and a BYOB policy. Customers flocked to the restaurant high in the clouds. The food and the view were the draw but there were some problems. Firstly there was a problem with pesky rattlesnakes which would appear in the dining room from time to time. Barker would grab a stick, scoop the rattler up and fling it down the hillside.
Then there was that formidable steep rocky drive up and down the hill. Barker’s sons would wait at the bottom of the hill, notify Barker and he would drive his car down to pick them up. He also drove them back down when they were finished. One time the fuel hose broke and he couldn’t stop until he got to the bottom when he jumped out of the car and put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.
On November 8, 1964, however, a fire destroyed the restaurant. Cloud Nine was never rebuilt and made its journey into Phoenix legends, and Barker moved on to other projects.
OK, we’re at the top now and looking out over the city of Phoenix. We’ve been able to climb several peaks in the region and have gotten superb 360-degree views from all of them. Makes it all worthwhile. Chugging up the trail and gasping for air are small prices to pay for the feeling of accomplishment and the fine views at the top. We can also look down upon the ruins of Cloud 9 and that is our next destination.
All that remain of the former restaurant’s glory are some steps, the curved floor of the restaurant and some dement walls. Close you eyes and you can smell steak cooking over the grill, hear wine glasses clinking and see the elite hobnobbing high above the city.
Then we were on our way to the bottom and our car. There is a race in Phoenix called the Seven Summit Challenge and the goal is to climb all 7 in 23 hours. Now the total hiking distance is 23 miles and the total elevation gain is 6000’. 23 hours? 23 miles? 6000’ in one day? Nuts. But, we’re working on our own Challenge.
Summit 1 South Mountain #1 DONE
Summit 2 South Mountain #2 DONE
Summit 3 Piestewa Peak DONE
Summit 4 Phoenix Mountain Preserve
Summit 5 Lookout Mountain
Summit 6 North Mountain
Summit 7 Shaw Butte DONE
Looks good doesn’t it? Well, as you know, we took three days and we’re not done yet. No sense rushing through these things - we’re retired, you know.
On our way home we spotted this sign. Changes the meaning of the old phrase, 'Church clothes’, doesn’t it?
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