Month: April 2016 (page 1 of 2)

Friday Fitness Hike

Linda, Mike, Bob, and I hiked nearly 11.4 miles on a Friday that started off cloudy and a little bit rainy. By the time we were done with the hike, however, there were very few clouds in the sky.

Creosote:

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Linda identified this as Graythorn:

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A view of the storm clouds from the Scenic Trail:

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Raindrops on the rocks:
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Mike on the tall bench at the overlook on the Lousley Hill Trail:

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A view from Lousley Hill:

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Ironwood:

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Views from the Escondido Trail…

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Look for the owl!

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Saguaro blossoms:

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Callisto

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Marie at NHS Induction

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Friday Fitness Hike

Mike, Bob, and I hiked a loop of about 8.5 miles starting from the Wagner Trailhead.

Some of the wolfberries are drying up, but these still look okay.

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A dead tree in Stoneman Wash:

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A very pretty and rocky area of the park:

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Mike and Bob:

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Views of the Superstitions in the background…

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Ratany blossoms:

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More boulders…

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Sandwash Groundsel:

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More boulders…

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A lone poppy amongst a lot of dry grass.

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Still more boulders…
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Sandwash Groundsel in Stoneman Wash:

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Cross F Wildflowers

Marilyn and I did a short hike near the Cross F Trailhead on Sunday. The area still has abundant wildflowers…

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Friday Fitness Hike

Linda, Doug, and I hiked a little over five miles in the Tom’s Thumb area. (Denise accompanied us for part of the hike too.) We hiked to Gardener’s Wall and then up to Tom’s Thumb. We continued northwest along the ridge and descended past the Lost Wall and Fort McDowell climbing areas. We then hiked the Feldspar Trail, visited the Sven Slab climbing area and returned on the Caballo Trail.

Strong winds were forecast for the afternoon. We were surprised to see how hazy it already was when we started.

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Hiking up to Gardener’s Wall…

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The path up to Gardener’s Wall goes beneath some granite boulders.

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This is an open air cave just below Gardener’s Wall.  An enormous granite boulder forms the roof of this “cave”.
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After emerging from the “cave”, this large bird flew down from a location higher on the wall to the this perch. We speculated that the bird had a nest higher up and was defending its territory. Fortunately, our path took us away from this bird.

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Hiking up past Gardener’s Wall…
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Globemallow:

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Fleabane:

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We saw the rock formation known as Glass Dome after topping out at the top of Gardener’s Wall.

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Tom’s Thumb:

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Hedgehog cactus blossoms:

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This is another view of Tom’s Thumb. The Superstitions are normally visible from this location, but not today.

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Buckwheat:

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Linda has a big grin on the descent.

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New Mexico Thistle:

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We saw these small pinnacles midway along our descent.
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Prickly pear blossoms:

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Sandwash Groundsel:

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An impressive agave:
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Desert mistletoe:

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Low angle granite slabs above the Feldspar Trail.

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A young tortoise:

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Linda sent me this photo of me and Doug scrambling up one of the granite slabs above the Feldspar Trail:

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Chuparosa blossoms:
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Some kind of beetle (I think):

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A mushroom rock near the Sven Slab area:

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Wednesday Night Sunset

I got this photo on my Wednesday evening hike…

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Sunday Hike – Pine Creek Loop

Marilyn and I hiked the Pine Creek Loop early on Sunday morning, getting back just before the rain hit…

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Friday Fitness Hike

Mike, Bob, and I hiked 8.8 miles in the competitive track area.  We hiked relatively short sections of both the Technical Loop and the Long Loop, with long sections of several washes in between.

This is a view, taken somewhat after sunrise, from the parking lot of the Horse Staging Area.

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Another view from the parking lot:

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This is a view from the surface road overlooking Stoneman Wash.

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Wolfberries:

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Saguaro and Ocotillo:
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We had gotten rain during the early morning hours; the day was humid with a good chance of rain forecast for later in the day.

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Senna:

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Looking up at a saguaro…

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White Ratany:

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I think the yellow flowers might be Slender Goldenweed with Buckwheat in the background.

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This wash was new to us…
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Bob and Mike:

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Another view of the wash…

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Sunday Hike – Pine Creek Loop / Ballantine Trail

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