Linda, Sara, and I hiked a little over 10 miles starting from Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. After hiking along the ridge to and past Tom’s Thumb, we returned to Tom’s Thumb Trail and then turned west to the Scottsdale side of the mountain range. On the Scottsdale side, we hiked all the way to the end of Tom’s Thumb Trail and then turn left (east) onto Windgate Trail. We hiked up Windgate and over Windgate Pass, then down Windgate and Windmill to East End Trail. We hiked up (and up) East End and then back down Tom’s Thumb Trail back to the parking lot. My GPS watch recorded slightly over 3200 feet of elevation gain.
This is a view from the climber’s access trail leading to the ridge. The low angle wall in the upper center of the photo is Half and Half Wall. According to Mountain Project, there are 5 routes on this wall rated from 5.3 to 5.8.
I think this is Desert Four O’Clock:
Looking NW from the ridge:
A view of Tom’s Thumb from the ridge:
Looking toward Scottsdale and Phoenix:
Nearing Tom’s Thumb…
At this point, we’re back on Tom’s Thumb Trail, hiking towards Scottsdale. There are some good views of Tom’s Thumb from this section of the trail too.
Descending Tom’s Thumb Trail on the west side. There are some good views on this side of the mountain too!
Linda and Sara, hiking up the East End Trail:
Looking toward Pinnacle Peak from near the intersection of Tom’s Thumb Trail & East End Trail:
Gardener’s Wall (left) and Tom’s Thumb:
Linda says:
Great photos and a great hike! The rock formation in the third picture looks like a “bunny rabbit” crouching with his ears back! LOL Did not see that when we were out there….LOL
October 29, 2019 — 7:19 pm