Author: Kevin (page 89 of 115)

Friday’s hike met at the Tom’s Thumb Trailhead, where we hiked the Marcus Landslide Trail.  The hike started off rainy, but cleared after perhaps twenty minutes or so.

Amy composed this group photo, which I shot from my tripod.  From left to right are Linda, Kevin, Amy, Janet, Teresa, Marilyn, Mary, and Jerry.

A bird’s nest in a chain fruit cholla, with Sven Slab in the background:

Linda sent me this photo of me photographing the nest.

More chain fruit cholla:

Sven Towers III, and II.  (Seven Tower I is only partially visible at the far right in this photo.)

A spider web among some barrel cacti:

Linda took this photo of the web from above:

We saw a mule deer, but the wide angle lens that I was using didn’t get me very close:

Marilyn got this photo of the deer with her camera.

The Granite Ballroom with the Thumbnail Pinnacle off in the distance.

Broken mushroom rocks:

We spent nearly all of the hike in Scottsdale’s McDowell Sonoran Preserve.  Some of us did, however, take a few steps into McDowell Mountain Park.  Here, Amy and Teresa pose by a sign on the Boulder Trail.

The trail leads up a hill formed from the slide mass:

Linda took this photo of me at around that point.

The trail goes past a lichen covered slab of granite:

Amy makes her way up the slide mass.  Rock Knob is in the background at the right.

We stopped at the interpretive viewpoint which shows the locations of various landmarks including Four Peaks and Weaver’s Needle.  I took this photo from that view area.

Taking a break near the view point…

Submarine Rock:

We returned via the Caballo Trail.  Along that trail is an old feeding trough…

There’s also an old water tank nearby.  Tom’s Thumb can be seen just left of the water tank.

On the drive out, after the hike was over, Teresa took this photo of caballos crossing the road.

Friday’s hike started at the horse staging area near the entrance to the park.  I took this photo of the sunrise while we waited for everyone to arrive.

We walked across the road to the competitive track parking area and started by hiking part of the Technical Loop.  We branched off onto the Long Loop and then hiked up to Pemberton via Stoneman Wash.  We went through the Trailhead Staging Area on our way to the Scenic Trail.  After about a mile on the Scenic Trail, we turned right onto the trail taking us back to the Horse Staging Area.

Note: I do not recommend hiking the loops in the competitive track area.  They are one way tracks and mountain bikes take them pretty fast.  I warned everyone on the hike to listen for bikes and to be prepared to step off the trail quickly.

A view from early on the Technical Loop:

A view of Red Mountain in the distance.

One of the steep downhill sections on the Technical Loop.  It appeared in pretty good shape.  It often has a lot of loose rock on it.

On our way to the tunnel going under the Sport Loop.

The tunnel…

Another view of Red Mountain.

Linda took this photo of me taking a picture.

We had some cool clouds on Friday.

Sarge leads the way, followed by Bob, Janet, Teresa, Marilyn, and Linda.

Chain Fruit Cholla on the Long Loop.

We saw this horny toad near the end of our hike on the Scenic Trail.