Camelback Mountain - Echo Canyon Trail

Author's Comments

I have a complicated relationship with this mountain. Echo Canyon is not a hike so much as a negotiation with rock, and the last half mile is closer to climbing than walking. I have made the summit at sunrise maybe a dozen times, and only twice has the light done what I hoped it would do. Here is the thing about photographing Phoenix from above. The city is enormous and flat, and from 2,704 feet the grid stretches to every horizon in a way that can feel either majestic or monotonous depending entirely on the air. Winter is when this mountain earns its reputation. After a rare rain, when the dust has been pulled out of the valley and the desert ranges to the west sharpen into actual silhouettes, the view becomes something else entirely. The McDowells go pink. The Estrellas hold blue shadow. South Mountain reads as a single long shape against the warming sky. Sunrise is the move, not sunset. The light comes from behind you as you face west, and the city catches it before the mountain does. There is a brief window, maybe ten minutes, where the towers downtown light up against ranges still in shadow. That is the photograph. A few honest notes. The summit is small and crowded even at first light on a Tuesday. A wide lens is the obvious choice, but I have found a mid-range zoom more useful for pulling specific ranges out of the haze. Start the climb in the dark. Be at the top before the sun is. And drink more water than you think you need, even in January.

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