Friday Fitness Hike

We met at the Tom’s Thumb Trailhead for Friday’s hike.  A new hiker to our group, Marilyn, joined Bob, Amy, Janet, and me for a hike up to Tom’s Thumb.

Below is a view of Tom’s Thumb and the surrounding area in the early morning light.

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We saw this cluster of rocks early on, through one of the easier stretches.  I think the boulders in the picture below are on private land.

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We saw a red-tailed hawk on the top of a rock, just as the trail started getting steep.

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Another view of the rock upon which the hawk was perched:

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Two views of Troon and Pinnacle Peak, off in the distance:

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We got high enough to see a Juniper Tree.2013-10-25-DSC01322-medium

A view to the west taken from the ridge west of Tom’s Thumb:

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The East End, the very top of Gardener’s Wall, Glass Dome, Weaver’s Needle, Tom’s Thumb, and the Rist are all visible in this photo.

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We noticed that we could see downtown Phoenix from the ridge near Tom’s Thumb. (Scottsdale is the closer community though.)

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A view of the west side of Tom’s Thumb.  (The camera is looking east.)2013-10-25-DSC01370-medium

Marilyn, Amy, Janet, and Bob approach Tom’s Thumb.

2013-10-25-DSC01379-mediumA photo of the five of us on the east side of Tom’s Thumb:

2013-10-25-DSC01400-mediumAnother pinnacle that we noticed on our descent.  (I don’t know the name of it.)

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I chose a rocky path for part of our descent…

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Marilyn, looking down into the canyon below Gardener’s Wall:

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