Friday Fitness Hike

For the hike on the first Friday in June, I hiked a 9.7 mile loop starting from Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. I hiked the Marcus Landslide Trail to the edge of McDowell Mountain Regional Park and then crossed the park boundary, hiking Boulder, Pemberton, Coachwhip, and Windmill, at which point I reentered the Preserve. I finished the hike by going up East End, down Tom’s Thumb, with a short diversion at the end on Feldspar and Mesquite Canyon.

Views from the Marcus Landslide Trail…

I think I’m on Pemberton at this point; that’s Red Mountain in the background.

Views from the Windmill Trail…

You can barely see the (remains of the) windmill in this photo.  It’s just left of (and partially obscured by) the saguaro that’s a third of the way from left edge of the photo.

Thompson Peak is the one with the antennae on top.

Starting up East End…

I’m a good ways down Tom’s Thumb Trail now.  Gardener’s Wall is on the left, Tom’s Thumb is on the right.

A view of Mesquite Canyon (and one of the Sven Towers) from the Feldspar Trail. The climbing on the Sven Towers is on the other side. The approach starts from this side; once at the top, the climbers will rappel down the route and then climb back up.

I saw this lizard as I neared the trailhead. I saw many other lizards that day too, but none were as colorful as this one.