Tag: Arizona (page 51 of 74)

April 27, 2014 / 4 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Amy, Bob, Venie, Linda, and I met at the Dixie Mine Trailhead on Friday. We hiked the Dixie Mine Trail to the intersection with the Sonoran Trail, at which point Amy turned back. The rest of us continued on, hiking the Sonoran, Promenade, and Western Loop Trails. The Western Loop Trail lead us back to the Promenade which took us back to the Sonoran Trail where we retraced our steps back to the trailhead. Midway along the Western Loop Trail, we hiked a section of the new (but not yet complete) trail which will connect with the Sunrise Trail. Total distance was 11.8 miles with 2,333 feet of total ascent.

From left to right are Amy, Linda, Venie, Bob, and Kevin:

A hedgehog cactus on the Sonoran Trail.

Views from the Sonoran Trail:

Views from the Western Loop Overlook:

Views as we were descending the Western Loop Trail:

At this point, we had hiked out as far as (currently) possible on the trail that will eventually connect the Western Loop Trail to the Sunrise Trail.

A backhoe can be seen in the upper-right of this photo.

We had returned to the Western Loop Trail at this point and took the right fork (which I hadn’t seen yet). Both forks lead back to the Promenade Trail, but the right fork is less steep.

A barrel cactus on the Sonoran Trail.

Another view from the Sonoran Trail.

An ocotillo on the Sonoran Trail:

We saw this saguaro in bloom as we were walking back through the gated community to the parking area.

We also saw these flowers on our way back. I think that they were just across the street from the trailhead parking.

April 24, 2014 / 0 Comments

Glass Dome as Viewed from the Tom’s Thumb Trail

More Lightroom-only practice…

April 24, 2014 / 0 Comments

Mushroom rock near Sven Slab

This is very similar to another shot already posted from last Friday’s hike, except that I used only Lightroom to process this one. The other one was processed using both Lightroom and Photoshop.

April 20, 2014 / 0 Comments

Golden Barrel Cacti

Marie and I saw these golden barrel cacti earlier today.

April 20, 2014 / 0 Comments

Prickly Pear Flower

I took this photo while on a walk with Marilyn earlier today.

April 20, 2014 / 5 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Last Friday’s hike started at the Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. Seven of us hiked up to Tom’s Thumb and back. On the way back, we visited the Sven Slab climbing area where we saw a Gila monster.

A Goldeneye bush with Gardener’s Wall in the background.

This is a cholla flower:

We encountered this rock formation on the way up.

California Buckwheat:

A view to the west as we made our way up to the ridge leading over to Tom’s Thumb:

Amy is instructing her iPhone to take a panoramic shot.

Someone on the hike identified this purple flower, but I don’t remember its name. I can’t find it in my flower identification book either.

A view of Pinnacle Peak and Troon:

A view of Scottsdale and perhaps other nearby cities as well.

A small rock formation on the ridge line. (I’ve photographed these rocks several times before.)

Another view of Scottsdale.

Linda and Amy hike up a steep trail on their way to Tom’s Thumb.

A view of the west side of Tom’s Thumb:

Bob, Marilyn, Amy, Linda, Cynthia, and Bill pose in front of Tom’s Thumb.

A view of the East End. Glass Dome is visible near the center of the photo.

A view of the southeast side of Tom’s Thumb.

I think it was Bob who pointed out the numerous Globemallow flowers as we started our descent.

A better view of Glass Dome as we continue back on the Tom’s Thumb Trail.

This is a view of Fountain Hills from the intersection of the East End Trail and the Tom’s Thumb Trail.

Another view of Glass Dome:

Tom’s Thumb is still visible, though you do have to kind of look for it among all the other boulders in the area. The side of Gardener’s Wall can also be seen at the far right in this photo.

Cynthia, Linda, Marilyn, Bill, and Amy do some scrambling on their way back.

This large boulder reminded us of Barney (from the children’s television series) head. It’s in the sun in this photo, but often looks more purplish when it’s in the shade.

Another view of Gardener’s Wall:

The mushroom rock with the saguaro cuddled up next to it is another favorite on this part of the hike.

Four Peaks is visible in the distance as well as the back sides of the Sven Towers. They don’t look much like towers here; they’re more impressive looking from the other side.

Morrell’s Wall:

I think this is Sandwash Groundsel:

Sven’s Slab:

A prominent mushroom rock near Sven Slab:

We saw this Gila monster as we were leaving the Sven Slab area.

Desert Marigold. If you look closely, you can see an insect at the center of the lower-right flower.

April 13, 2014 / 4 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Friday’s hike started at the Wagner Trailhead. We hiked Wagner to Granite; right on Granite, crossing Stoneman Wash. Later on, somewhat before the Granite Trail intersects the Bluff Trail, we stopped at an unnamed wash which feeds into Stoneman Wash. Amy lead part of the group back to the trailhead via the Bluff Trail. The rest of us hiked up the wash, eventually coming to the Pemberton Trail. We continued on, up to the base of Rock Knob. We returned via the shortest path utilizing the Rock Knob, Pemberton, Bluff, Granite, and Wagner Trails. Total distance for those of us doing the long hike was nine miles with a total ascent of only a bit over 400 feet.

I took this photo from the trailhead as we were waiting for the hike to start:

This photo was taken at the trailhead before the hike even started. From left to right are Jon, Nancy (in back), Venie (in front), Linda, Mary Lou, Kevin, Merilee, Pauline, Bob (with Sarge in front), Allen, and Janet (with Savannah in front). Sarge was happy to see another dog on the hike. A view looking along a small wash towards Four Peaks.

Jon and Venie hiking on the Wagner Trail:

According to Ranger Amy (who verified her identification with Ranger Kevin at Spur Cross), this is a Sandwash Groundsel.

Palo Verde flower:

Linda took this photo of the group just before splitting up. Those of us who did the long hike continued up the wash shown in this photo.

Two photos from the wash…

On their way back, the group that went with Ranger Amy found a kingsnake. (Amy sent me this photo.)

I think the white flowers in the photo below are Blackfoot Daisy.

Approaching Rock Knob:

One of the rock formations at Rock Knob:

Red Mountain and the Fountain off in the distance:

A largish boulder in the vicinity of Rock Knob:

Horses on the Bluff Trail:

Christmas Cholla: An ocotillo blossom:

More palo verde flowers:

April 5, 2014 / 3 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Eight of us (counting Sarge) hiked the Scenic Trail in McDowell Mountain Park last Friday. When Nancy, Venie, Bob, Sarge, and I got to the Cinch Trail, we split off from the rest of the group and continued on. We made our way across the road, eventually ending up in Stoneman Wash and some of its feeder washes. Our hike was ten miles long with around 650 feet of total ascent.

On the Scenic Trail…

Sarge looks at me as if to say, “What are you doing with that camera?”

A group photo at the bottom of the Scenic Trail. It was at this point, that Bob, Sarge, Venie, Nancy, and I continued our adventure starting on the Cinch Trail.

Sarge leads the way on the Tech Loop.

Looking back at “The Leoge” on the Technical Loop. Fortunately for us, there are now some nice bypasses that go around these drops on this trail.

A Mexican Poppy. Many of the wildflowers have dried up or are in the process of wilting.

A view of Stoneman Wash in the foreground with the McDowells in the background.

A Hedgehog Cactus blossom.

This is a teddy bear cholla flower:

Some saguaros.

This might be another buckhorn cholla flower.

A look at some of the small canyons west of the homestead site.

I think this one is Spiny Goldenweed:

Another hedgehog flower.

20140404-DSC03176-Edit-medium

April 1, 2014 / 4 Comments

Friday Hike – Black Mesa / Bull Pass Loops in the Superstitions

Linda, Bob, and I did a hike in the Superstitions last Friday.

We started off on the Dutchman Trail and then took the Second Water Trail. We hiked Second Water out to the Black Mesa Trail which took us back to the Dutchman Trail. Had we returned on the Dutchman Trail at this point – which is what we had planned – we would have hiked nine miles. But we were all feeling pretty good so we decided to see if we could find the Bull Pass Trail, which we had noticed on the map prior to starting our hike.

I couldn’t tell from the map if the Bull Pass Trail connected with the Dutchman Trail or the Boulder Canyon Trail, so we explored a bit of Boulder Canyon looking for the Bull Pass Trail. The Boulder Canyon Trail – at that point, anyway – crosses Boulder Creek many, many times. We limited ourselves to three crossings in our exploration. Neither Bob nor Linda had hiked this portion of the Boulder Canyon Trail. This gave them a chance to experience what it’s like.

We returned to the Dutchman Trail and located the Bull Pass a short ways further. The first part of the Bull Pass Trail provided us with much of our elevation gain for the day. Once we reached the pass, we saw a side trail which continued upwards. We went up some of the way, but turned back before reaching the summit. (I knew we had a lot of miles to hike still, and thought it best to conserve our energy.)

Returning to the Bull Pass Trail, we continued on until we reached the Dutchman Trail again. We hiked the Dutchman Trail back to the Trailhead.

Our total distance for the day was 16.1 miles, but with only 1,978 feet of total ascent. (I was hoping to reach at least 2,000.)

This is a view from the Second Water Trail early in the hike.

Linda and Bob enjoy the view from the Second Water Trail. There’s an interesting, arch-shaped cairn here too.

We saw these chain fruit cholla on the Black Mesa Trail.

I thought it was interesting that these saguaros made a “V”.
We noticed a large number of saguaros on the hillside to our left as we hiked the Black Mesa Trail, but there were almost no saguaros on the hillside to our right. I had to keep the camera low to avoid lens flare in this shot.

A short ways further, I decided to position the camera in this saguaro’s shadow as a different way of avoiding lens flare.

We came across this thistle flower with a bee wriggling around in the flower. Apparently, it was very happy there because it was there when I stopped for a sequence of photos and was still there when I left. I waited a bit too, to see if it would emerge and fly away, but did not have the patience to wait for very long.

This might be Desert Marigold.

I don’t know what these purple flowers are. They were somewhat paler than shown here in the harsh sunlight.

Linda hiking the Black Mesa Trail.

Bob found a side trail leading to a scenic overlook. I made a panorama our of a bunch of different shots taken from this overlook. A short ways further, we got a good look at Weaver’s Needle. These two photos are taken from roughly the same location. Two more views of Weaver’s Needle from a short ways further.
I think this is a feeder for Boulder Creek. The hike description mentions that the Black Mesa Trail descends into Boulder Canyon, but I’m not convinced that this is actually Boulder Canyon.
I think we might have reached the Dutchman Trail at this point.

There are several flowers here, but I don’t know what any of them are.

20140328-_DSC9926-Edit-medium We were either in or near Boulder Canyon when I took this photo of Weaver’s Needle. I think Battleship Mountain is to the right. We got to see this formation from the other side too (we think). There appeared to be a relatively easy ascent from the other side.

We finally locate the Bull Pass Trail!

More views of Weaver’s Needle, this time from the Bull Pass Trail.

At this point we had reached the high point of the Bull Pass Trail and had continued up the side trail for even better views.

This was one of the views.

We had lost sight of Weaver’s Needle for quite a while, but it reappeared again for a while.

The trail went right between some huge chain fruit cholla plants.

Back to the Dutchman Trail! (This is the other end of it.)

This large overhanging rock provided shade and was a cool spot to rest. But we spent almost no time resting though as we still had a long way to go.

Another nearby rock:

Linda, photographing some Globe Mallow flowers.

This might be Fleabane.

The Dutchman Trail climbed for a while, providing spectacular views.

A view of Weaver’s Needle from the Dutchman Trail. As I recall, there were great views from this location in all directions.

More views from the Dutchman Trail on our return trip…

Bob noticed an arch near the top of one of the walls. I think this might be Aylor’s Arch. This wall was immense; I got a wide angle to show more of the wall, but lens flare ruined the shot. (I worked on it for a long while, but am not happy enough with the result to post it.) We noticed a small rock formation that appeared to be blocks stacked atop each other.

A view of the end of one of the large walls off to our right.

A closer look at the small rock formation mentioned earlier. Sadly, someone had to carve his (or her) initials (and names) on some of the blocks of this formation.

This might be Blackfoot Daisy.

I was struck by the lichen covered rock as we passed this spot. I think the lichen was even brighter than I made it in this photo.

Another unusual rock formation along the Dutchman Trail.

As we neared the end of the Dutchman Trail, we had to cross a wash several times. Linda found a path that wasn’t too wet and didn’t involve much rock hopping.

March 23, 2014 / 2 Comments

Friday Hike – Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area

Bob, Venie, Linda, Nancy, and I did an eight mile hike at the Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area. Our hike took us out into the Tonto National Forest briefly. Halfway through, we hiked up to the top of the fortress peak where we looked at the walls built by an ancient people, presumably for defense.

Our hike started on the Spur Cross Trail, where we encountered Cave Creek.

Fortunately, there is narrow bridge of sorts, so we didn’t have to get our feet wet crossing the creek.

Linda looking at some of the large Saguaros beside the trail:

An early morning view from the Spur Cross Trail:

A view of Elephant Mountain on the left with the fortress peak lower down to the right. The steep walls around most of the fortress peak make it fairly inaccessible via any route except for a steep, but relatively easy trail accessible from the saddle between these two formations.

We saw at least two signs along the way about the trail being a “primitive route” that is “not maintained”. These trails are significantly better than some of the trails we’ve hike elsewhere.

Another early morning view:

Part of the trail followed an old road full of rocks.

Yet another early morning view:

Another view of Elephant Mountain and the Fortress Peak. Note that Elephant Mountain is still to the left of the Fortress Peak in this photo.

By the time that I took this photo, we had worked our way far enough around these formations for the positions to have reversed.

We saw this very elaborate cairn at the junction with Trail 252. We took the fork leading westward.

Trail 252 lead us even further around Elephant Mountain and the Fortress Peak.

We saw this yellow flower along the way.

We encountered a fork on Trail 252 and took the left fork. This lead us back to a fork of the Elephant Mountain Trail that we had bypassed earlier in the hike. I think this view, below, is a view of Elephant Mountain from that trail.

A view from the wash that the trail dumped us into.

Linda says that this is “fountain grass”. She says that it’s a non-native grass. Some of her work with the McDowell Sonoran preserve involves eliminating some of this grass from the preserve. It’s pretty in this photo, but it prevents native plants from growing. When dry, it is very combustible and presents more of a fire danger than do native plants.

A view of some high walls of the wash as we made our way over to another wash, through which the Elephant Mountain Trail passes.

We’re so far below Elephant Mountain now that we can only see the Fortress Peak.

At this point, we had been going uphill for quite a while on our way up to the pass between Elephant Mountain and the Fortress Peak.

A view from the northwest side of the Fortress Peak. Elephant Mountain is not visible in this photo, but is to the camera’s right.

We saw many flowers on the way.

This is a view of Elephant Mountain from part way up the ascent to the top of the Fortress Peak.

A view from below of one of several stone walls on the Fortress Peak.

Several more views of some of the stone Walls near the top of the fortress peak.

Even though it’s quite rocky, the fortress peak has a variety of vegetation.

A view from the near the top of the fortress peak.

I took this photo from some boulders that form the high point of the Fortress Peak. As seen below, there’s quite a lot of space atop this peak.

A view of Elephant Mountain from the fortress peak.

Yet another view from the Fortress Peak.

We continued hiking the Elephant Mountain Trail after leaving the Fortress Peak. The trail crossed a large wash along the way. Below is a close up view looking down the wash.

Here is a wider angle view:

Looking back up at the prominent wall on Elephant Mountain.

Linda told us that this is a Mammillaria, a small type of cactus that often grows between rocks. A look up another steep wash / canyon.

And a look at where it continues downwards:

The ocotillo are in bloom and the desert is still green.

Hedgehog cactus blossoms:

Ocotillo blossom:

Another blooming ocotillo that’s growing around a smallish saguaro.

We encountered this woman riding her horse near the end of the trail. We also saw another large group of riders in the distance, but they’re route did not cross ours.

Linda peers out of a window from the remains (?) of a stone structure near the parking area.

Tag: Arizona (page 51 of 74)

Friday Fitness Hike

Glass Dome as Viewed from the Tom’s Thumb Trail

Mushroom rock near Sven Slab

Golden Barrel Cacti

Prickly Pear Flower

Friday Fitness Hike

Friday Fitness Hike

Friday Fitness Hike

Friday Hike – Black Mesa / Bull Pass Loops in the Superstitions

Friday Hike – Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area

Archives

Categories

Search

Archives

Categories

Search

Tags