This week’s photo challenge prompts me to feature a challenge of a different kind. From the challenge post, “A perspective looking down, from the top of a beautiful circular staircase… this week, show us your interpretation of descent.” View the entire challenge post here.

Regular readers of this blog might recall that since first visiting Arizona, my wife, Lynn, and I have taken up hiking. Our usual hiking excursion is on trails that are easily navigable for us “young” retirees. Echo Canyon Summit Trail is not one of those trails. The iconic hike on Camelback Mountain in Phoenix was by far our most difficult accomplishment.

Despite it’s difficulty level, thousands of people make the trek up Echo Canyon Trail every year; so many that for the last year, the trail has been closed providing the park department the time needed to enlarge the parking lot and upgrade trailhead facilities to help alleviate what has become a major parking problem for visitors. Even though the trail is now open again, during winter and spring months, visitors are encouraged to use many of the city’s other fine trails on the weekends, especially.

The trail, categorized as difficult, has spectacular views along the way up, and for the purposes of this photo challenge, on the descent as well. Though some might make this 1.1 mile (1.7 km) hike in only a couple of hours, the 1200 foot (365 m) ascension took us into the early afternoon. We would soon learn that the descent would take us longer than the ascent. I submit for your critical examination, a gallery of images featuring a descent from the Peak of Camelback Mountain. Click on any image below to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner