Are you a hiker bored with the same old routine; weekend jaunts up Camelback or Piestewa?\nTry this on for size, McDowell Mountain.\nYou can access it either from the Windgate or Bell Pass trails, then, once at the pass, it's pretty much vertical. (No formal trail)\nNot vertical as in ropes, but more like a 75 degree ascent. Completely do-able with sticks, boots and strong legs.\n\nThe trek from Gateway Center to Windgate Pass is around four to five miles on a nicely graded path. Once at the pass, you'll need to free-climb the rest of the way.\nYour reward?\nA 360 view of the valley, spanning from Mesa all the way to the Bradshaw and Mazatzal mountain ranges. Simply spectacular.\nI recommend starting pre-dawn, especially with the hot weather approaching.\n\nIf you do attempt this hike, wear good boots, long pants, and leather gloves since some of the ascent is on all fours.\nAlso bring a ton of water. \nI went through six-sixteen ounce bottles and ran out a couple miles before returning to The Gateway.\n\n\nHere's another tip. If you're by yourself, wear a bike helmet in case you go down. Also bring a cell phone and an old cd with you in case you fuck-up and break a leg or twist an ankle or something.\nYou can call for help and use the cd to flash signal the air ambulance.\n\nNote:\nThere's no trail to the top of McDowell Mountain from Windgate Pass, but you can follow an old barbed wire fence laying on the ground for a ways, starting just up from the pass.\nWhen you're finished with this achievement, head for Temple Bar, just down the street on Thompson Peak & Bell Roads where in a fitting salute the mountain's namesake, General Irvin McDowell, you'll slog down a couple beers and as many shots in his honor.\n\nGeneral Irvin McDowell. \nFamed Indian figher, West Point grad, and chronic alcoholic in his later years.\nDrink one for you and several for him. What the fuck. \nNo-one in the bar will care, in fact, their level of interest in your accomplishment will likely be measured in micro-give-a-shits.