Hiking, in fact, was one of the things he thought he’d love most about Phoenix when he moved here. But as it turned out, it was on a hike where his romance with Arizona ended. “I was out on a trail last summer, and it was ridiculously hot, and I had gone too far, and I don’t know—I just collapsed,” he told me. “I totally fainted. Banged my head on a rock. Scared the hell out of my girlfriend. She gave me water, and I was okay, but it made me think—what am I doing living here? Maybe it’s a genetic thing or whatever, but I can’t take it. This heat is dangerous.”
