Hiking With My Sister To A Hole In The Rock In Papago Park In Phoenix

My Sister Gearing Up For The Hike To The Redrock Top

Does my sister look a bit reluctant regarding the idea of climbing the Papago Park redrock butte behind her, with the hole in the rock being the goal?

Papago Park is a hilly zone, primarily in Phoenix, but spreading into Tempe and Scottsdale.

Papago Park's redrock sandstone buttes make for an unusual feature inside a major city. In Papago Park you will also find the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden.

This is only 10 minutes from downtown Phoenix and attracts millions of visitors a year.

Arizona Hikers Trekking To The Top Of
The Butte With The Hole

My current hometown, Fort Worth, Texas, also has an unusual feature about 10 minutes from its downtown, called the Tandy Hills Natural Area. The Tandy Hills Natural Area does not attract millions of visitors a year. Nothing in Fort Worth attract millions of visitors a year.

Oh. I forgot about the sporting goods store, Cabela's, which sold Fort Worth a bill of non-sporting goods, promising, in exchange for tax breaks and other perks, to give Fort Worth the #1 tourist attraction in Texas.

I digress.

Kids Coming Through The Hole In The Rock

I was very surprised at the large number of little kids making the trek up the redrock butte to the hole in the rock.

In Papago Park, in addition to the trail to the top of the redrock butte you see in these pictures, there are many miles of other trails for hiking and biking.

I saw a lot of mountain bikers today, in Papago Park, which made me feel very nostalgic for Moab and my mountain bike.

From the Hole in the Rock you can see a white pyramid. This is known as Hunt's Tomb, due to this being the burial location for Arizona's first governor, George W. P Hunt. Since Arizona is currently celebrating its centennial of being a state, this would seem to indicate that Mr. Hunt became the governor of Arizona in 1912.

Kids Inside The Hole In The Rock

I have already mentioned my noticing the huge reduction in the number of balloon people that I am seeing in Arizona compared with all the balloon people I see in Texas.

This particular Saturday, in the urban zone of Phoenix, is instructive as to why there is such a big girth differential between the two states.

Today I would hazard to guess that there were likely no more than half a dozen people on Fort Worth's Tandy Hills. Granted, the Tandy Hills are not nearly as scenic as these redrock buttes in Papago Park, but that really does not explain the difference in outdoor activity levels.

My Sister Looking Through The Hole In The Rock

That difference in outdoor activity levels sure would seem to go a long way to explain why I'm experiencing the same thing I experienced the last time I had spent way too long in Texas and then flew to a skinnier part of the country to find myself thinking the people looked as if they've had the air let out of them

Today I saw 100s, maybe 1000s of people out and about, hiking, biking, boating, climbing. Every butte or hill we came upon, today, had people either hiking or biking, or both, on it. Including a very steep paved trail on something called A Mountain, in Tempe, near Lake Tempe and Arizona State University.

My sister's pedometer indicated by the end of today's trekking we had trekked about 4 miles. Much of that trekking involved elevations gains.

I do not know what is in store for me tomorrow. Church has been mentioned. My mom just came into my quarters to give me a church worthy shirt. Against my will I was fed dinner tonight. My mom was unsuccessful  in her turkey leg hunt. I have heard Sweet Tomatoes mentioned multiple times this evening as a possible dinner zone for Sunday. Along with my sister....