Normally I wait until the weekend to hike Daisy Mountain. However with snow on the forecast I wanted to be up the mountain before it stopped. There are pros and cons to this approach. During the snow the visibility of anything from the top of the mountain is minimal, but there's still snow, and lots of it.
I don't remember exactly when I got up on February 22nd. Maybe 5:30, after less than a couple hours of sleep, no more than 45 minutes at a time. I know that I got to the trail head at 6:15 and realized I forgot my flashlight. I waited a few minutes but decided to start hiking 45 minutes before sunrise. For the most part I was prepared. I had enough clothes for my upper body, however I should have brought some thermals because it was a little chilly waist down.
The trail started out with a light dusting. By the time I was somewhere around 2,400-2,600 feet above sea level things started to change really quick. I had hiked this mountain probably at least 50 times but I had no idea where I was several times. The clouds were coming in thick, it was near white out conditions, and the snow was so wet and heavy that it weighed down palo verdes right over the trail.
I ended up getting lost climbing up the south peak and had to do some rock climbing to get up. I had people asking me why I didn't have a compass. Hysterical! I wasn't that kind of lost. I knew my direction but had no idea where the trail was. I had a couple small slips between the south and north peaks and got lost in the clouds. When I got to the north peak the flag was frozen stiff. Natalie texted me telling me she was at the trail head taking pictures, after dropping Adri off for school. Under normal circumstances I could flash a mirror and she could see me from the trail head. However on this day she could only see half the mountain and I could only see 40 yards in front of me.
As I headed down I got really lost and ended up on the wrong side of the mountain. It didn't matter, all I had to do was get under the clouds and I could find my way from there. I wasn't any easy hike. I had to tap my foot around before stepping to see if there was cactus, slippery rock, or solid ground beneath the snow. I had four falls going down this mountain but was able to catch myself and land with a little dignity. About half way down I ran into a kid that lives around us. I don't know him but I did talk to him. I was a couple hundred yards from him when I spotted him and made my way back to the trail. I was finally out of the blinding snow and it was a fairly easy hike back from there. I did see some genius running in his shorts. He told me it's not that cold. Yeah it's not, til you break your ankle and die of hypothermia waiting for help. People's stupidity never cease to amaze me.
I've had a lot of fun hikes up Daisy Mountain but this was by far the best. There's just something about seeing snow falling on cactus and turn the desert into something that is unrecognizable. Not many people get out and really live their lives and see this stuff. My motto is, if the weather is bad,it's good hiking weather.
Daisy Mountain just before 6 AM on February 22nd. You can't see the peak in this picture.
Just below where the snow really started to get thick. It was pretty cool seeing a bunch of white roofs throughout Anthem.
I'm guessing I was around 2,400 - 2,600 ft here and it was starting to get thick. From here on it was at least ankle deep to almost knee deep.
Just before the first summit.
The golden poppies were not as excited about the snow as I was.
Coming up on the first summit.
A snow covered cholla cactus.
Climbing up the south peak.
Climbing up the south peak. I had no idea where I was and started rock climbing.
Starting to get really thick here.
This is the south peak. In front of me is a pile of rocks covered in snow.
Snow covered ocotillo.
More frozen palo verdes.
This octotillo got a whole lot of ice and snow.
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