Category: Hiking (page 45 of 68)

Hike descriptions and/or photos.

April 12, 2015 / 2 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

We hiked 11.7 miles on Friday, starting from the Wagner Trailhead. In order, we hiked the following trails: Wagner, Granite, Delsie, Gooseneck, Rock Knob, Pemberton, Bluff, Granite, Wagner.

Jon, Savannah, Janet, Ben, Bella, Eva, and Allen:

Buckhorn Cholla:

Bill Craig tells me that these yellow flowers are likely Trixis (Trixis Californica).

Jon, Eva, Allen, Janet, and Ben, with dogs Bella and Savannah in front:

Desert Marigold:

I think this might be Threadleaf Ragwort / Sandwash Groundsel:

New Mexico Thistle:

I think this is some more of the Sandwash Groundsel. We saw this small rock formation with the saguaro on the Gooseneck Trail.

A view of the McDowells from the Gooseneck Trail:

The Goosneck Trail went between some rocks.

Eva and Ben standing next to the lichen and moss covered rock.

A closer look at both the lichen and the moss.

I think these are wolfberries. I ate one earlier in the hike.

A good view of Sven Slab with Tom’s Thumb in the background:

Chain fruit cholla, along the Rock Knob Trail:

A view of Rock Knob:

This small rock formation can be seen from the Rock Knob Trail:

I think this is White Ratany:

April 7, 2015 / 1 Comment

Sunday Hike – Dixie Mine Trail

Marilyn and I hiked the Dixie Mine Trail on Sunday.

Most of these photos were taken using my Sony NEX-7 and a Venus 60mm Ultra-Macro lens. I never got into the ultra range on this hike. For many of the photos, an ordinary 60mm would have worked just fine. The Venus lens is a fully manual lens – I had to set both aperture and focus via the rings on the lens. Most of these were taken at f/8.0.

I had to process this one (and several others) a second time. I’ve gotten into the habit of using the H-K (Helmholtz-Kohlrasch effect) action from the PPW panel, but I’ve now learned that this does not produce pleasing looking flower photos. Dan Margulis says that it’s often not appropriate for portraits either as it can make skin look old. This is definitely what was happening in some of the flower shots.

A very young (and foolish) bunny. It let me get surprisingly close.

I’m happy with the way this one turned out. The cyclist was talking to Marilyn at the top of the hill. I walked a short ways up the hill and then prefocused to get the shot.

When I took this shot the sky looked very washed out even when viewed through polarized sunglasses. The peaks of Four Peaks looked bright white.

These photos, below, were taken with my Sony RX100 III. This first photo was taken midway on our way out. (We hiked to the road and back.)

April 5, 2015 / 0 Comments

Moonlight Hike

Range Amy led a moonlight hike out to the pond on Friday night. I took several photos, but the dark conditions made framing and focusing the camera a challenge. I only ended up with a few shots worth showing.

Sunset:

The hike was well attended…

I couldn’t quite the moon into this photo of some cacti off of the Pemberton Trail. There are a number of cholla, two saguaros, and a barrel cacti in this photo. (See my Lunar Eclipse post for a better photo of the full moon that night. There’s also a fuzzy photo of the moon in eclipse.)

April 5, 2015 / 1 Comment

Friday Fitness Hike

Friday’s hike started from the Horse Staging Area. We made a loop utilizing a service road, Stoneman Wash, and the Pemberton, Scenic, Cinch, and Escondido trails. We hiked nearly nine miles with minimal elevation gain.

Marilyn and I arrived at the trailhead just in time to see the sunrise:

A view from the service road going through the competitive track area:

Views from Stoneman Wash:

Midway through our trek up Stoneman Wash, we hiked a short ways up to another service road which overlooks the wash. This provided us with a good view of the wash in the foreground and the McDowells in the background.

Bill, Gary, Eva, Mike, Patty, Marilyn, and Linda:

California Buckwheat:

Cholla blossom:

A view from the Scenic Trail:

A double saguaro on the Cinch Trail:

March 30, 2015 / 2 Comments

Sunday Hike – Wood Canyon & Eurodog Valley

Bob, Marilyn, Nick, and I attempted to hike Wood Canyon – Upper Rim on Sunday. We hiked a mile or so out when Bob was stung by bees. (I got stung by just one bee.) We weren’t sure how Bob would react to the bee stings, so we turned back and then drove out to Eurodog Valley, a climbing and bouldering area where we scrambled around on the rocks.

This is a Mariposa Lily. We saw a lot of these in the Wood Canyon area, probably at least one order of magnitude more than I’d seen prior to that day altogether.

The hike is billed as being off-trail. It started off going up this lichen colored rock.

There were excellent views here, even at the start.

Hedgehog cactus blossoms. Nick told me that these are a variety of hedgehog cacti known as claret-cup.

After the bee incident, we headed back. Nick, Bob, and I walked within inches of a coiled up rattlesnake. I think it’s likely that this happens frequently, but that no one but the snake notices.

Marilyn waited to pass until the snake crossed the trail.

We also saw cows on the way back.

Another view from the lichen colored ridge. Nick’s truck is visible at the left.

This is the wash / creek at the bottom of Eurodog Valley.

Marilyn, Nick, and Bob hike up the steep hill after crossing the creek. We initially descended via the 45 degree slab on the other side of the creek – it’s the wall visible in this picture.

I think the red flowers might be a type of penstemon.

A view of the mine.

Nick points at a rock formation (which I eventually photographed, but did not process).

Another shot of the mine and the tailings.

On the way back, we noticed this rock formation:

Hiking back up the 45 degree slab:

March 28, 2015 / 1 Comment

Friday Hike – Mt Peeley Summit

Bob, Nick, Bill, Denise, Linda, and I hiked to the top of Mt Peeley on Friday. The ascent consists of roughly two miles of hiking on the Arizona Trail (which is the Mazatzal Divide Trail through that section) followed by half a mile of less defined trail to the top of Mount Peeley. When we descended the half mile portion, we hiked a bit more of the Mazatzal Divide Trail before turning back. Total distance was 7.9 miles with 1500 feet of total ascent.

March 24, 2015 / 7 Comments

Friday Hike – Granite Mountain

We did an 8+ mile route on Friday, March 20 starting at the Granite Mountain Trailhead. We hiked the following trails: Bootlegger, Saddlehorn, (left on) Granite Mountain Loop, Balanced Rock, (right on) Cholla Mountain Loop, Branding Iron, (left on) Granite Mountain Loop, and (back on) Bootlegger.

The Bootlegger Trail passes through these large boulders:

A heart shaped rock can be seen from the Bootlegger Trail. On the way out, you have to turn around to see it. It’s easier to find when returning to the trailhead. Fortunately, Linda was our guide; she let us know when it was time to look back to see it.

Another view from the Bootlegger Trail. The segment of Bootlegger from the Trailhead to the intersection with Saddlehorn is only about 3/4 mile long and is very scenic. It makes an excellent mile and a half hike for just about anyone.

I think these photos might have been taken from the Saddlehorn Trail:

This is the intersection of Saddlehorn and the Granite Mountain Loop Trail. We turned left here.

Hiking the Granite Mountain Loop Trail:

Taking a break…

Looking up the mountain. The rock at the top has a roof upon which is a 5.8 called Pasta Man Unchained.

The yellow flowers are Goldfields:

From left to right are Heather, Janet, Bob, Allen, Nick, Jen, Linda, and Bill. The dogs are Savannah, Bella, Keena, and Sarge. Linda took charge of Sarge for the day.

Another view, showing the upper part of Balanced Rock:

Nick and Jen returned to the trailhead at this point. The rest of us continued on the Balanced Rock Trail.

This is Cholla Mountain:

A view of the northeastern portion of Cholla Mountain:

Globemallow flowers:

Blackfoot Daisy:

I think this is Hackberry Beartongue / Arizona Scarlet Bugler (with Fairy Duster in the background):

Fairy Duster:

Returning on the Granite Mountain Loop Trail:

Views of Weaver’s Needle and the Flatiron in the distance:

March 22, 2015 / 9 Comments

Friday Hike – Weaver’s Needle Loop from Peralta Trailhead

Friday’s hike on March 13 started from the Peralta Trailhead. Bill, Bob, Janet, and I did a thirteen mile route around Weaver’s Needle. (Marilyn joined us for the first part of the hike.) Starting at the Peralta Trailhead, we hiked the Bluff Springs Trail, Terrapin Trail, Dutchman Trail, and returned on the Peralta Trail. Weaver’s Needle was in view for much of the hike.

Bill, Janet, and Marilyn hike up the Bluff Springs Trail:

This is not Weaver’s Needle – we saw this rock formation early in the hike.

I only managed to get one photo of this snake. It turned around and slithered off the trail before I had a chance to get more interesting shots. Michael and Sue, in their comments to this post, identified this snake as a Sonoran Gopher Snake.

This is a view from a spur off of the Bluff Springs Trail.

This is (obviously) the intersection of the Terrapin Trail and the Bluff Springs Trail. Route finding was fairly straightforward the entire way except for one spot a bit further on where the Terrapin Trail branched off to go to the base of the needle.

This might be Phlox Tenuifolia, also known as Santa Catalina Mountain Phlox, Vine Phlox, and Desert Phlox:

I think the white flowers are Fleabane:

This is Weaver’s Needle. We saw it before this point too, but the view was not as impressive as this or later photos:

Bob, hiking on the Terrapin Trail with Weaver’s Needle in the background:

I think this might be Battleship Mountain:

This relatively small rock formation blocked our view of Weaver’s Needle for a time.

This is still Weaver’s Needle. It looks very different from this side.

Bob, Janet, and Bill:

Goodding’s Verbena:

This was the view of Peralta Canyon as we (mostly) descended back to the trailhead.

March 15, 2015 / 3 Comments

Friday Hike – Picketpost Mountain Summit

On Friday, March 6, Bob, Allen, Janet, Bill, and I hiked to the summit of Picketpost Mountain.

Allen sent me this plot of the elevation profile from our hike:

Here is a plot of our hike (also from Allen). We took a somewhat different path back in some of the steeper, looser sections. The path that we used to go down was somewhat easier than that which we used for the ascent.

Something isn’t quite right in the first few photos here, but I can’t quite figure out what it is. Many of my photos from early in the day were in the shade of Picketpost Mountain. It could be that I should have used different techniques for color correcting the portions in the shade.

The hike starts on a portion of the Arizona Trail. The arrow made out of stones points to the correct path up to the summit of Picketpost Mountain. We had passed another likely path perhaps a quarter mile prior to encountering this one.

A view of Picketpost Mountain from the lower slopes. The hiking path goes up the “crack” just right of center.

A view looking in the other direction.

I thought the barrel cactus growing sideways was interesting.

We saw many agave stalks on this hike.

I don’t know what these red flowers are…

Bill enjoys the view from midway up:

There were a few spots with some exposure…

This is the view from near the summit. A side path lead to a gap in the boulders.

There is a mailbox at the summit! We each posed on the bench near the mailbox…

Janet and Allen:

Bill:

Bob:

Kevin:

This is the story about how the mailbox came to be on the top of Picketpost Mountain:

The hike to the top of Picketpost Mountain is not especially easy, yet a lot of people have been there. The mailbox contains a number of summit register books. (Janet was examining a few that aren’t in the mailbox in this photo.)

Janet, looking at the summit logs:

A view of Weaver’s Needle as we started downward.

Another view from early in our descent:

This is a Mexican Poppy:

A lizard:

This was the last steep section of the descent:

Kevin, Bill, Bob, Allen, and Janet:

Much to our surprise, we saw two equestrians coming up the trail. I don’t think they made it to the top. I’d be surprised if they made it even a quarter of a mile further from this point.

A view of Picketpost Mountain from the parking lot:

March 12, 2015 / 0 Comments

Monsoon Photo from September 7, 2012 – Three Edits

Here are three edits of a monsoon photo from a hike that we did on September 7, 2012. We ended up hiking through monsoon rains a short time after the photo was taken.

This version, below, is my most recent attempt using techniques from the PPW, though I did some minor dodging and burning of the clouds through luminosity selections.

This is my second edit where I used luminosity masks. I think I blended two exposures using luminosity selections. It produced a more dramatic result.

This photo, below, is my original edit. I had just switched over to shooting RAW (from JPEG) at the time so this was one my early attempts at processing a RAW image. Looking at it now, it looks grainy to me (due to lack of noise reduction). It’s not as sharp as it could be either.

Category: Hiking (page 45 of 68)

Friday Fitness Hike

Sunday Hike – Dixie Mine Trail

Moonlight Hike

Friday Fitness Hike

Sunday Hike – Wood Canyon & Eurodog Valley

Friday Hike – Mt Peeley Summit

Friday Hike – Granite Mountain

Friday Hike – Weaver’s Needle Loop from Peralta Trailhead

Friday Hike – Picketpost Mountain Summit

Monsoon Photo from September 7, 2012 – Three Edits

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