If Phoenix is that hot, why do so many move there? (Sierra Vista: cabin, locations)

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

On weekdays maybe. Weekends the traffic will leave you wishing you had just stayed home. I-17 is a hot mess anymore with traffic snarling accidents more the rule than the exception.

I've had decent luck. There are usually a few idiots going slow in the left lane that jams it up for a bit, but I've been able to do Saturday to Sunday trips without too much hassle.

[Ponderosa]

Forget escaping to the lakes anymore either. The Salt River lakes are closed by 10 on weekends and even Lake Pleasant at its 9000 acres was closed over the weekend. If you do manage to get in, forget about beaches. It's all rocky shore full of burrs and stickers and cheek to jowl humanity unless you have a boat. If you do have a boat you get to go out on the lake after waiting in line at a 10 lane ramp and navigate with three foot waves from all the churn Drunk boaters are everywhere and there are drownings and accidents nearly every weekend.

[Jnvlv247]

Geez this thread is full of "back in the day" and things are changing and I hate it people. Thankfully, new people are coming and other who actually appreciate living here as it is. You can sit all day and reminisce about how the area was less crowded and what not but that seems like a wasted life to me. I think going up north for a weekend is a great thing. Some people even have cabins they go to for the whole summer. The lakes around Payson are higher elevation and really cool off at night. Traffic is inevitable and nothing like living in LA metro so quit the wining.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

I don't get the whole "we get to escape the heat to the higher elevations" BS. Sure, if you want to spend time and money driving just to cool off for a few hours before you have to jump in the car and come back to the furnace.

For some of us, it's more than just a few hours. I reserve most of my vacation for the summer months so I can get away for days or weeks at a time to either the AZ high country, Colorado, the CA coast, or somewhere that is less hellish than here. It's definitely better than staying here all summer, being miserable, and complaining. If I didn't take those summer vacations, I'd probably go insane because the heat probably gets to me just as much as (if not more than) it does you.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

I don't get the whole "we get to escape the heat to the higher elevations" BS. Sure, if you want to spend time and money driving just to cool off for a few hours before you have to jump in the car and come back to the furnace.

Given the traffic, crowding and congestion when you get there, and the costs it just isn't worth it to go up north to escape the heat anymore. A wiser approach is to take the money you would have spent on gas and food and maybe a hotel and put it aside. Crank the AC down to 70 or so and turn on Netflix. Pay the bill with the money you put aside. Wait for October (well more like November now) when you can go outside again.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Given the traffic, crowding and congestion when you get there, and the costs it just isn't worth it to go up north to escape the heat anymore. A wiser approach is to take the money you would have spent on gas and food and maybe a hotel and put it aside. Crank the AC down to 70 or so and turn on Netflix. Pay the bill with the money you put aside. Wait for October (well more like November now) when you can go outside again.

The travel traffic is only bad on the weekends because that's when most people get away. Thankfully, I usually leave on Sundays or Mondays, and go in the opposite direction of the traffic flow, so the roads aren't all that bad. Also, I pick spots that are usually out of the way. Many locations in the White Mountains are quiet and serene with nobody else around. Along with that are temperatures which can be over 30 degrees cooler, so those locations seem like a world away compared to the Phoenix area. It's not healthy to stay indoors all the time. I'd go insane if I stayed cooped up inside all summer and didn't get away. Talk about monotonously boring!

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by grad_student200

Phoenix does get "really hot" but only for about 5-7 hours of the day. People who have acclimatized maintain outdoor activities by (1) doing it in the morning (e.g. before 11 AM) or (2) at sunset/early evening. For example, back in the 1990s there was a record heat day in Phoenix at about 120+. I knew teens who did not venture outside at all for the entire afternoon. But at night they played pickup basketball - usually about 9 PM or after when it cools off (relatively).

I hike Piestewa Peak throughout the summer by going before 11 AM. It's a fierce hike in the mountains of Central Phoenix. But it's doable with acclimatization and proper planning. My limit is about 100 F. There are people who go up when it's hotter than that. They are used to it but plan and train carefully - acclimatize. By about 2 PM the temperature shoots up to 110 or higher. But I am usually off the mountain well before then.

I used to mountain bike in some fairly warm weather. By the time I finished riding it would be over 100 F... not pleasant, but not enough to dissuade me from going on a ride. Today that is not appealing to me at all. In the middle of the summer I am out walking the dogs before sunrise, which is okay on most days, but a warm morning plus direct sunlight becomes unpleasant very quickly.

It's probably an age thing. Either that, or there's some sort of cumulative effect. I moved to Phoenix in my early 40s, so I was not an especially young guy even then. But now in my 50s I definitely have less tolerance for the hot temps.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

The travel traffic is only bad on the weekends because that's when most people get away. Thankfully, I usually leave on Sundays or Mondays, and go in the opposite direction of the traffic flow, so the roads aren't all that bad. Also, I pick spots that are usually out of the way. Many locations in the White Mountains are quiet and serene with nobody else around. Along with that are temperatures which can be over 30 degrees cooler, so those locations seem like a world away compared to the Phoenix area. It's not healthy to stay indoors all the time. I'd go insane if I stayed cooped up inside all summer and didn't get away. Talk about monotonously boring!

That's the point. So many are rationalizing away the unpleasantness of a Phoenix summer with the argument that cooler weather is just a quick trip away. It's not. It is like you do. To enjoy it you have to schedule so that you are going "in the opposite direction". You need to pick places that are further and further out - start going to the 2nd and 3rd tier locations because the best ones are all no vacancy.

Heck, I even have a cabin on the rim at 7000 feet. It is a mile or two from East Clear creek below Blue Ridge dam. A couple weeks back some Phoenix (doubtless) a-hole left his illegal campfire burning and burned up some of the most beautiful country in the state along with the homes of about 30 of my neighbors. The whole place smells like a stale campfire now and the ash blows in the relentless winds of this miserable spring. Arizona is nothing but a depressing memory of what it used to be. Let's be honest here. This place sucks in summer and there is little convenient respite from it. It's boredom or frustration. Pick your poison, I guess.

[ozzeran]

I'm coming up on my 3rd summer here and have enjoyed taking breaks going to the rim or the white mountains etc..

However it's becoming more and more of a tease because we have to turn right back around and drive back into this wasteland.

I've also finally had enough of the lack of rain here and up north. This will be my last year here (signed a year lease in April). I gave it a try, it's not my kind of place. I will however miss the trips and scenery, as I still think the desert is pretty, it's just the same mundane, clear hot sunny weather day after day, not to mention the intensity of the sun is ridiculous here. I can only see it getting worse with all the construction and people moving here, I'm sure it was a pretty nice place to live years ago.

[meo92953]

It's going to be interesting to me to experience a summer here, although Sierra Vista is supposed to be cooler than Phoenix.

I moved here Sept 1 & so far am loving it. I visited in July & decided right then that this was it. I suppose I should have come in June but it wouldn't have mattered. Last summer was hardly even a summer in Minnesota. So many gray, cloudy days it was depressing. So experiencing the sun, heat & sunsets was wonderful.

When I think how hard the previous winter was on me, I really relished being here this past winter. I was housebound so often in Minnesota.

Yes, I enjoyed many aspects of Minnesota when I was younger. There's a lot to be said about living in a state with 10,000 lakes. But, now that I'm retired, I had enough of winter. Winters weren't so bad when I was into ice fishing but the energy to accomplish that was gone as I got older.

I will say that September was a bit on the warm side last year & I assume June will be warm, but it's pleasant mornings & evenings so expect that's when I'll be out. It will certainly be an experience.