Friday Fitness Hike

Bob and I hiked four miles in the Tom’s Thumb area on Friday.  We hiked up Mesquite Canyon and then proceeded on the climber’s access trail to a point just past Hog Heaven, nearly to the Thumbnail Pinnacle, for roughly1500 feet of total ascent.  We did this hike as an out-and-back; we had planned on making it a loop, but unfortunately made an (energy depleting) wrong turn after Hog Heaven, getting into some fairly difficult terrain.  We removed the cairn which led us up the wrong path and added a few more indicating the correct route.

Bob and I hiked up the low angle slabs to the ridge line of the Sven Slab / Sven Tower I area.

20160513-_DSC6147-Edit-medium

Bob, making his way up the bottom-most slab.

20160513-_DSC6159-Edit-2-Edit-medium

Hummingbird and saguaro blossoms:
20160513-_DSC6238-Edit-2-medium

Morrell’s Wall and Tom’s Thumb:

20160513-_DSC6258-Edit-medium

I’m not sure what this plant is, but we saw a lot of it growing on the slabs as we made our way up.

20160513-_DSC6273-Edit-medium

I think this might be the very top of Sven Tower III.  The Thumbnail Pinnacle is visible in the distance.

20160513-_DSC6330-Edit-medium

Prickly Pear Blossom:

20160513-_DSC6354-Edit-medium

Bob crossing Linda’s “favorite” spot on this hike:

20160513-_DSC6414-Edit-medium

A good view of Marcus Landslide, below.  It’s also an expansive view of McDowell Mountain Park.

20160513-_DSC6506-Edit-medium