Friday Fitness Hike

Bob and I hiked in the Tom’s Thumb area on Friday. We hiked perhaps 7 miles with a total ascent of 2500 feet.

View from parking lot just before 6:00am:

We hiked the Marcus Landslide Trail to the Feldspar Trail and then scrambled up a low angle slab of Granite.
We saw this interesting cacti on the way up.

A view towards the east on the way up:

This is the view looking towards Morrell’s Wall.

Bob, starting his scramble up the next low angle slab of granite:

Morrell’s Wall on the left and Tom’s Thumb to the right.

I don’t know what these are, but we saw patches of them growing in thin soil atop the granite on the way up. We took care not to step on them. This patch is near the top.

A view from near the top of Sven Tower I:

The Thumbnail Pinnacle looks a long way off in this photo. We ended up hiking past Sven Towers II and III on our way to the trail to Hog Heaven.

A view of McDowell Mountain Park. The Boulder Trail and the Marcus Landslide Trail can be seen below.

I was surprised to see some blooming Globemallow flowers on our way up to Hog Heaven.

This photo is for Linda. (The route goes across the tops of these boulders.)

Looking up at the walls of Hog Heaven:

This is the main wall at the Hog Heaven climbing area:

We had passed the Thumbnail Pinnacle at this point. The brush was a lot thicker than the last time we were here. I took this photo while procrastinating about pushing through the brush.

As we approached the East End, the highest point in the McDowells, we saw two people already there!

This is a view from the highest point in the McDowells. Tom’s Thumb, Gardener’s Wall, Pinnacle Peak, and Troon Mountain are all visible in this photo.

We hiked this ridge on our way to the East End.

A blooming prickly pear cactus with Tom’s Thumb in the background.

We saw and heard a lot of bees on Friday. Here, we see one in the prickly pear blossom.

A view of Pinnacle Peak.

Gardener’s Wall: