Friday Fitness Hike

Six of us hiked from the Tom’s Thumb Trailhead up to Tom’s Thumb last Friday.  We took a circuitous, little used route which provided us with views that most hikers to the area do not get to see.

A view of the Sven Slab area prior to starting the hike.

A view of Gardener’s Wall at the far left and Tom’s Thumb, more towards the middle.  Our route took us up to the ridge right of Tom’s Thumb.

A view to the northeast as we began to make our way up to the ridge.

Taking a break and removing some layers…

One of the rock formation we encountered on our way up:

The trail up was steep and loose! A view to the north as we continued up to the ridge:

We saw these flowers along the way:

A view of Troon and Pinnacle Peak:

A rock formation along the ridge:

More views from the ridge…

The trail up to Tom’s Thumb took us up a steep path through granite boulders and vegetation.
Bob, Linda, and Ellen:

A glimpse of Tom’s Thumb behind the saguaro:

Doug, Bob, Linda, Ellen, and Alex pose for a photo on the northwest side of Tom’s Thumb. A view of Scottsdale and Phoenix to the west:

As we made our way around Tom’s Thumb, we were able to see the Tom’s Thumb snake its way along the hillside ahead of us.

Cacti and boulders ahead of us as we make our way around to the southeast side of Tom’s Thumb:
A view of the southeast side of Tom’s Thumb:

As we hiked away from the thumb, we saw another pinnacle to the west:

A view of Glass Dome with the East End behind it.

The grass is still fairly green from the rain we got in December.  If we don’t get rain soon though, it’ll turn brown.

Getting closer to Glass Dome:

We passed through these boulders as we made our way down the Tom’s Thumb Trail:

A look back as Bob, Linda, Ellen, Doug, and Alex pass by the boulders shown in the photo above:

A view to the northeast:

A view of Troon and Pinnacle Peak in the center with the edge of Gardener’s Wall on the left:

Another view of Glass Dome, this time from the west:

Linda, Bob, Doug, Ellen, and Alex make their way through and across granite boulders on the way back:I think that this large boulder sort of looks like a dinosaur head:

A view to the northwest:

Gardener’s Wall:

Another view of Pinnacle Peak and part of Troon in the distance with a saguaro and some boulders in the foreground:

Gardener’s Wall on the left and Tom’s Thumb on the right.  If you look closely, you can see the path up to Gardener’s Wall in this photo.A large boulder with a saguaro on the left and Pinnacle Peak off in the distance to the right:

Sven Towers I, II, and III in the foreground with Four Peaks in the distance at the far right: