Hike of the Month

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I'd come up to Prescott, my old hometown, for dinner with friends and relatives. Now in the gray dawn of a new day, I'm assessing the damage done. Thousands of calories, poured into a body that didn't need them. Now it's time to take off what I have so gluttonously put on. Twenty minutes and a glass of orange juice later, I'm standing in a parking area at the end of Forest Service Route 374 in the Prescott National Forest. Early morning light plays off the face of the massive mountain that looms above me. They call it Granite Mountain because that is precisely what it is: a mountain of nearly pure granite, forced upward by some ancient cataclysmic wrenching of the earth. Some of the exposed rock is nearly 2 billion years old.

The upheaval cracked the granite in a zillion places. Then, across the millennia, wind and water worked at the cracks, creating an absolutely countless number of huge individual boulders, piled in an indiscriminate manner to an elevation of more than 7,000 feet. The hike is, round-trip, eight miles to the uppermost vista point and back. The Forest Service Bulletin calls it a comfortable six-hour trip, but if I'm going to accomplish some serious calorie reduction, I need to do better than that. I punch my stopwatch and tell myself to do it in two.

LOSING CALORIES ON PRESCOTT'S GRANITE MOUNTAIN

At the beginning, the trail wanders gently uphill along a dry streambed under a canopy of sheltering ponderosas. I jog 100 paces, walk 100 for the first mile to Blair Pass where three trails intersect. I take No. 261 to the north. Now, I settle into a brisk walk as the trail takes a switchback course up the south face of the mountain, rising nearly 1,400 feet over the next 1.3 miles. Growing out of the immense jumble of boulders is a diverse selection of plant life. Incongruously, giant prickly pear cacti flourish next to the gnarled trunks of piñon pines and mountain oaks. Thickets of manzanita fill the side gullies. At the higher elevations, ponderosa pines march up the canyons and outline themselves against a clear November sky.

The trail is well-engineered, wide and rising always at a comfortable angle. For most of the upward trek, a massive rock face displays itself off to the right... a sort of mini-El Capitan that draws serious rock climbers with their ropes and hardware.

Near the 7,000-foot mark, the trail spills into a saddle and forks to north and south. I take the path to the left and, after several hundred yards, reach a vantage point that reveals a vast sweep of valley and the mountains to the north. The most distant summit is Humphreys Peak, snowcapped, 12,643 feet above sea level and more than 80 crow-flight miles away.

I double back and take the fork to the south, pass through a pleasant clearing with rock fireplaces where campers spend the night, then on to the vista point on Granite Mountain's south face. Far below is the blue speck of lake where I fished and swam as a kid. But farther out is a majestic panorama that reveals Prescott and the towering pine-green Bradshaws beyond. In a more westerly direction, I can see Skull Valley, the country around Kirkland, and the rugged lower mountains that hold the old mining community of Bagdad.

I rest for a few moments, let the soft breeze, blue sky, and warm sun fold around me. Then, it's time to start down. If I'm to keep my schedule, I have less than an hour to make it to the car.

WHEN YOU GO From Prescott's courthouse square at the corner of Gurley and Montezuma, drive west on Gurley .3 of a mile to Grove. Turn right on Grove and continue 1.2 miles to Iron Springs Road where you will turn left and travel 3.0 miles to a right turn just past a sign that says, "Granite Basin 4 miles." Take this road for 3.2 miles to a stop sign and fork in the road. Stay to the left and proceed .5 of a mile to another fork. Stay left and drive .4 of a mile to the parking area. Granite Mountain may be climbed any time of year depending on weather conditions. There is no water along the route, so be sure to carry your own.

When I hit relatively level stretches of trail, I jog. But not on steeper inclines. The trail is strewn with tiny granite pebbles, a surface that will cause even running shoes to lose their grip. At the Blair Pass junction, where the trail levels out, I pick up the pace and jog most of the final mile.

At the car, I lean over the hood and catch my breath then glance at the stopwatch. Two hours and 11 minutes. Slower than planned, but that's okay. I know that the trail to the top of Granite Mountain is littered with lost calories, and I won't have to punch another hole in my belt - at least not for the time being.