trailrunning – Page 3 – Bri With A View

Lake Pleasant Regional Park

Lake Pleasant is just that….so pleasant! With camping sites branching off the main road like a web before you hit the marina, you have plenty of options to set up camp and enjoy the starlight and calming sounds of the water from your tent. Even better? The trails that surround and overlook the lake itself. For a short hike (3.1 miles) with amazing views and under 500 feet of elevation gain, Yavapai Point is one that can’t be beat! It climbs to a lookout point where you can see lake, boats and all the rolling mountains in the back. You can even connect trails to add on if you’re feeling good and have more time.

2. Skyline Regional Park

If you’re anything like me, a loop trail is the preferred kind of trail to explore. You always see something new and that makes being outside even more enjoyable. Skyline Regional Park offers beautiful 360 views of rolling mountains and traditional desert-scape. The trail here you should give a go is Skyline and Quartz Mine Loop! With just under 1k in elevation gain in 4.5 miles, this hike is still leisurely although exposed, so make sure to bring plenty of water, a hat and sunscreen.

3. Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area

I am a big fan of this conservation area. It is more remote, quaint and the views of the mountains here are stunning. You need to pay cash, so please remember to bring it with when you go explore! For a more challenging hike I highly recommend Elephant Mountain Trail — a 7 mile loop with roughly 1300 feet of elevation gain. When you reach the top of Elephant mountain you can see for miles, the wind a welcomed visitor after the climb. This trail is exposed and you will need water and fuel for the effort!

4. White Tanks Regional Park

This regional park is rugged, exposed and oh so beautiful. The White Tanks hold seasonal waterfalls and plenty of trails to choose from whether you want something easy or something that will really push you. A quick, beautiful trail to explore for a seasonal fall is aptly named: The Waterfall Trail. Not only may you find flowing water but also many petroglyphs with very minimal elevation gain. I consider that a win! Want to really challenge yourself? I recommend the 16.4 mile haul on the Goat Camp Trail. This trail rises nearly 3116 feet in elevation and some steep climbs — my favorite kind of trail! If you enjoy light scrambling and climbs, this is the long route for you.

5. Usery Mountain Regional Park

Usery, within the Goldfield mountains is a beautiful, jagged, raw-looking area which makes it very unique to what we see surrounding Phoenix. If you haven’t been out to this area yet, what are you waiting for?! For a lightly trafficked, gorgeous adventure, Meridian Trail offers jaw-dropping views and only 260 feet of elevation gain in 5.3 miles. This trail would be great for beginner hikes or trail runners while more advanced hikers/runners may want to tack on some other trails to this one.

There used to be a time that I would tag trails all the time, which I will admittedly say was from complete ignorance. With the large sharing of places and spaces via social media, it is beyond important to realize what impact we have on the places we go. There are Leave No Trace guidelines that most people are aware of: don’t litter, pack in pack out, hiking/running on trails and protecting living soil, don’t take or mess with artifacts or anything you find from the past — preservation. It is preservation in every way we can possibly preserve while still enjoying the outdoors to its fullest extent. You can read more on these principles here: https://lnt.org/learn/7-principles

Beyond the guidelines we are more aware of there is now one for social media specifically. Be mindful of what your images portray and what you tag. What have I been taking to heart? How many people do I reach or influence? While I may not have a HUGE following, I know I share things and reach several hundred people via stories and over a thousand when I post.

Now imagine if every single person I reached decided they also wanted to go to the exact same trail and experience it. Is there such a thing as loving a place too much? I honestly think there can be, we’ve seen what happened with Horseshoe Bend and the swarms of people now going which has lead to fences going up and potential permitting. Can the trail I share handle an influx of people going and experiencing it? How well known is this trail/area? Are there natural spaces that could get damaged? I try to keep in mind ruins, arches, caves, sacred grounds from Native tribes, etc. An influx of people visiting these spaces can run down the space and recently we have seen the aftermath of people who don’t respect or appreciate nature the same as you might impacting a place you love: http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/arizona-news/robbers-roost-in-sedona-defaced-with-graffiti

This legitimately enrages me. But we can do our part to protect and speak up for the spaces and areas we love: be mindful. This is why I don’t share specific trails unless it is potentially inside a National/State park or monument. Instead, I share a region or general area. Half of the fun in my opinion is researching areas and finding trails and amazing features for yourself. When you do the work of researching, you feel rewarded! I utilize many online resources: the AllTrails app (downloadable via the apple store) which allows you to look up trails based on area, length, elevation, rating, etc. I utilize blogs and websites like hikearizona.com, I look at maps, I look at google earth even though I’m not very good at it. I will sit online and type in features I want to see “in ____ area” and see what comes up. I don’t stop on the first or second or third page of the internet. I search. I dig. If I want to see and experience something, I will put in my due diligence. To this date I’ve only asked for information on one trail and I respectfully asked someone and expressed I wouldn’t be upset if they chose not to share information. It is up to us if we want to give out information, it is not snobby or rude…it is being mindful.

The new social media guidelines for NLT can be found here: https://lnt.org/blog/new-social-media-guidance

also here: https://www.outsideonline.com/2276176/21st-century-update-leave-no-trace-principles

Everyone is talking about this. Everyone is trying to shift to protect spaces they can wind up being loved to death. We want to be able to keep things wild, we want to go on trails and not see other people’s trash and graffiti. We want to have these places to share with our children and their children, right? Right.

I know the ultimate means of LNT is to not post about a place at all, not share at all but for me, sharing beautiful moments is something I enjoy. I enjoy sharing photos because I use Instagram as a personal visual diary, but I know that in and of itself still may play a part. So I attempt to minimize my footprint in this way. I am not ever trying to be rude or snobby or better than by not responding to a “where is this?!” comment, I am simply choosing to be mindful.

If you do a little digging, I promise you will find AMAZING places and trails and feel beyond fulfilled and excited when you track things down on your own.

There’s also nothing wrong with sharing information — but again, consider the impact of sharing information and with whom you share it with. Are they respectful of LNT principles? Do they abide by these guidelines? What is their influence and impact?

Tag: trailrunning

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