Hurl!

Wednesday afternoon I set out to conquer the Hurl. Its been awhile since I climbed the Hurl. For those that are in pretty good shape it can be a cardio challenge the first half mile or so. Short steep ups that are loose and rocky followed by switchbacks...and the more loose rocky climbing.
I felt pretty good though the initial climb but soon realized that I was getting too hot and needed to shed a layer. The overheating seemed to have sapped my strength to a degree and I climbed on feeling lousy at one point and good the next.
Along the way I had plenty of opportunities to stop and take some pictures and goof around with camera settings. Usually you don't run into anyone on the Hurl and this day was no different. Too bad really, I would have liked a few shots of me riding along with the mountains in the distance. I did manage one timer shot but the effort it takes to set something up wasn't worth the time today.
This day my goal was to ride the Western Portal back west and scout out a possible connecting trail into the Driveway Trail way down below. There aren't a lot of options as the land quickly dumps back into the Cottonwood valley below and steeply in most spots. Finally I found the spot I was looking for and made a mental note for further exploration on another day.
After a short hike a bike back down to the valley floor it was time for some fast cruising thru the cottonwood trail network, seemingly much more easy after climbing the Hurl.
A beautiful few hours spent riding, exploring, soaking in the quiet calmness of the desert, looking forward to my next ride already.