Friday Fitness Hike

Friday’s hike started from the Trailhead Staging Area.  We hiked out on the Pemberton and took Stoneman wash to one of its feeders, where we hiked up that wash back to Pemberton.  From there we hiked through a small and twisty canyon.  We returned via the Tonto Tank Trail and the Pemberton.  Total distance was only six miles.

Bob and Sarge descend a small hill towards Stoneman Wash.

This section of Stoneman Wash is amazingly firm, probably due to the hardened clay beneath a thin layer of sand and stone. We took this photo by a large dead tree in the Stoneman feeder wash.  From left to right are Nancy, Michael, Joanne, Linda, Kim, Jim, Bob, Sarge, Venie, Carrie, and Hailey.  (I’ve probably misspelled some names.) Joanne spotted this antler in the wash.

A view of the clay pit from the Pemberton.  It’s my understanding that this was the site of a test dig for a clay mine at one point in the past.

A view from another wash accessed from the Pemberton.

The terrain became more interesting as we went.

Bob and Sarge passing an undercut section of the wall.

The wash narrowed as we went.  We eventually got to a point where we has to push the branches of a small palo verde tree aside to get through.

Michael, who is much taller than I am, took this photo of the top of a blooming saguaro while I pulled down the branch of palo verde tree blocking the view.

Four Peaks:

Another view of Four Peaks:

Red Mountain:

The remains of an uprooted saguaro:

Weaver’s Needle is visible in the distance in this photo.  The Flat Iron, which is also in the Superstitions, can also be seen at the far right.  (It’s so far right, that it’s almost out of the picture.)