Neat route, I enjoyed it!
A nice "lite" version of the Flagstaff Fearsome Four and a good tour of the parks in the middle of Phoenix.
John met me in 4 places to refill my bottle and provide a bit of food, and he also accompanied me to the top of Camelback and back and then the last run down Shaw. An easy route for crewing.
Also looks pretty easy to go unsupported; I didn't check the bathrooms at a couple trailheads to see if the water was turned on, but that could be helpful.
I'd suggest a refinement to the route description. It would be nice if the goal were more specifically:
* Start and end at the Echo Canyon and Shaw Butte (Central Ave) trailheads, going in either direction
* Hit all 4 peaks
* Use only trails, bike path, and dirt roads in between, with the exception of:
1. Sidewalks between Echo Canyon trailhead and Quartz Ridge trailhead
2. The short section of road at the top of Piestewa Peak Drive
3. The road up to North Mountain
That way a runner could take whichever trails they liked and not have to worry about following the track exactly. If someone were thinking of doing this, I'd suggest asking the FKT crew first to make sure that's OK.
My splits:
From the Echo Canyon trailhead to the top of Camelback = 39:40
To the top of Piestewa = 2:06 (2:45 total)
To the top of North = 2:50 (5:35)
To the top of Shaw = 1:05 (6:41)
Finish = 6:58:21
Thank you Jeff for setting this up!
Comments
Nice work Marcy, glad you enjoyed the run! I totally agree with your suggested changes. The spirit of this route is just to summit all four peaks while staying on the trails as much as possible. I will reach out to the FKT team and see if we can made some revisions to the description.
Thanks!
Excellent, thanks Jeff!