Motivated Hiking Group on the Bursera Trail at South Mountain. Front row
(left to right): Marilyn Harkins, Diane Alessi, Colleen Newman, Henry
Silberblatt, Jeannette Chenier; back row (left to right): Dena Brinkman, Kelly Woodward, Ted Maresh, Warren Wasescha, Ed Molieri, James Rowson, DeEtte Faith, Gene Jencsok
Warren Wasescha
On a clear day you can see mountain ranges all around the Valley, and when you look at the last two calendar months of hiking, the club has already hiked in most of those mountain ranges this season. We get around, and you will, too, when you hike with our club.
Already, the club has done hikes to destinations like Balance Rock, South Mountain Mines, Jacob’s Crosscut, Lone Pine, Boulder Canyon, Shaw Butte, Sunrise Mountain, Picacho Peak, Butcher Jones, and more. To a newcomer, those names don’t mean much until you actually go on a hike. But when you do, the sights and beauty of those hikes become forever locked into your memory, and they become like good friends you want to visit again and again.
This past month, the hike leaders have been busy planning upcoming hikes for the club and also working on the final details of our special hike in Prescott in late March. For the “special hike” each year, the club picks a location where we normally do not have time to travel to outside of the metro area. We spend two to three nights there as a group, hiking and socializing. This year Prescott was chosen for the location, and we are already sold out for this trip. If you’ve not been on a “special hike” and are interested in future seasons, ask someone in the Hiking Club about them, and if interested, we hope to see you on it next year!
New to Sun Lakes and wondering if the Sun Lakes Hiking Club might be right for you? Club hikes are on Monday mornings of each week at three different levels, now through April. Mellow hikes are the easiest pace, led at a leisurely speed, usually up to 5 miles and 500 elevation gain. Moderate hikes are a bit more strenuous and are in the 5 to 7-mile range and up to 1000 elevation gain. Motivated hikes are more rigorous and are usually 7 to 10 miles in length with 1 to 2000-plus elevation gain.
All upcoming and past hikes, along with information about our club, can be viewed on our Meetup site. Just type “Sun Lakes Hiking Club” into your web browser to locate us. Questions not found on our Meetup site? Please reach out to our president DeEtte Faith at [email protected].
If you like hiking, we’d love to have you join us. We are a friendly, inclusive group of hikers who welcome all able-bodied hikers. Our goal is to make group hiking fun, challenging, social, and safe.
Looking forward to hiking with you!