Friday Fitness Hike

Linda, Linda, Susan, and Ben joined me for a 10.75 mile hike (with nearly 2200 feet of total ascent) starting from Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. We hiked up Tom’s Thumb, down East End, turned left on Windmill, left on Coachwhip, left on Pemberton, left on Boulder, and then right on Marcus Landslide. When we got to the intersection with Feldspar, Linda K joined me for a short scouting trip for my rappelling session on Saturday. The rest returned to the trailhead via Marcus Landslide.

(Our scouting trip revealed no bees for the scramble up to the top of the boulder pile from which we would rappel on Saturday. When Marilyn and I had climbed there in the past, bees were sometimes a minor problem.)

A view of Pinnacle Peak and Troon Mountain from the Tom’s Thumb Trail:

Looking toward Four Peaks…

A break in the clouds lit up part of Troon Mountain as we continued our hike up Tom’s Thumb Trail.

A view of Gardener’s Wall and Tom’s Thumb:

Glass Dome on the left; Tom’s Thumb partly hidden at the right.

Looking towards Red Mountain from near the top of the East End Trail:

This is a view from near the bottom of the East End Trail:

We saw this raven on a saguaro as we neared the intersection of Coachwhip & Pemberton:

Kevin, Linda, Linda, Susan, and Ben on the Pemberton Trail:

One of the mushroom boulders on the Marcus Landslide Trail:

This is the broken mushroom boulder that can be seen on a short spur trail off of the Marcus Landslide Trail: