Papago Park

A few months ago we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens. On our way there, about a half mile from the parking lot, there were some buttes that caught my attention. I noticed a lot of people were walking up them so I decided that one of these days I'll have to check it out. After leaving the park we drove around a little and found some other buttes across the street. People were just parking on the busy main street there and hiking up the hills. I looked it up later and learned it was Papago Park.

About a month ago Natalie had some stuff to do on a Friday morning and I had the day off so I decided to take Adri to Papago Park, Adri loves hills and mountains and I rarely get alone time with Adri so I thought it would be the perfect outing. The first hike we did was easy. It was up the first set of buttes in the first picture below. Another funny but embarrassing Adri moment took place here. We were hiking up to the hole in the rock and she yelled "It's the mountain's vagina". I told her don't say that so she yelled again "It's the rock's vagina". Of course behind me was a lady with her two daughters.

The hike up to the hole in the rock took about a whole 5 minutes. I took some pictures until Adri got cold from the wind and shade and then we headed down. There's a lake at the bottom so I took her over to see the ducks and make a mess with the cattails. She was having so much fun that she started screaming and having a meltdown when it was time to leave, and by leave I mean drive 5 minutes over to the next set of buttes.

The next set of buttes were a lot trickier to climb. It probably took me 15 minutes to get up these ones because they were steep with a lot of loose gravel. I had to carry Adri in one arm while using the other arm to hold onto the wall. And going up was the easy part. Going down left me a little sore for a couple days because of all the resistance trying to go slow.

When I finally got down the mountain I took Adri to In N Out. This kid loves a burger, fries, and a mile shake. And after that I took her home to go swimming. What can I say, I have a spoiled daughter.

Papago is nothing like my epic Flatiron hike but it's a good way to kill a couple hours and get a decent view of the valley.

My happy little hiker

Getting a little cold up here

Grumpy baby. You can see the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport behind her as well as an airplane landing. Of course Adriana still loves airplane so we sat up here watching the airplanes land.

Downtown Phoenix and the other set of buttes we hiked

The lake

Adri with her walking stick

From the top of the second buttes we hiked

 

This was the hard part. Climbing up and going down this. It's harder than it looks when carrying a two year old.