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.