Author: Kevin (page 82 of 115)
Thirteen of us started from the Wagner Trailhead for Friday’s hike, but over the course of the hike, we broke up into three groups. Janet, Michelle, Nick, and Bob accompanied me through the Bluff Trail Wash to Pemberton and then down Stoneman Wash to Granite at which point we returned on Wagner and Granite. (We took Wagner and Granite on the way out too.)
Group photo; unfortunately, I could not remember the names of everyone who joined the hike this week.
Troon Mountain is lit up off in the distance.
A view of Four Peaks through vegetation along the trail.
This is where Janet, Michelle, Bob, Nick, and I turned off the Granite Trail.
We wait for a time for Robert to catch up with us. While we waited I took this photo of the Granite Trail. The rest of the group that was hiking with us went this way and perhaps those who followed later on did too.
We scramble up these boulders to hike up the wash. (I’ve posted similar photos in the past, but I processed all of this week’s photos with Adobe Lightroom 5 and wanted to see what it was like to edit this photo using LR5.)
A dead tree in the wash…
Janet and Michelle scramble over boulders on their way up the wash.
A narrow passageway through some rocks:
Flowers…
This rock pile is visible from the Pemberton Trail somewhat north of the Bluff Trail intersection with Pemberton.
I saw this small cholla as we hiked the Pemberton over to Stoneman Wash.
A large saguaro just off of the Pemberton Trail. Michelle noticed that there were three buds on one of the arms that sort of looked like eyes and a nose.
A rock formation in Stoneman Wash:
Bob, Janet, Nick, and Michelle hiking Stoneman Wash:
Views of Stoneman Wash…
Sculptor Mark Lundeen created this likeness of Ronald Reagan. It was donated in 2013 in the memory of Fred Potenza Jr. by his family.
(Marie appears twice in this photo!)
This sculpture, created by Mike Dwyer, is called Quackers. It was donated in 2009 by Michael and Jeannie McGonigle with their families, Hammerstone, Kreidel, and McGonigle.
Student artists from the Fountain Hills High School assisted professional artist Hugo Medina in creating a mural on a wall in the Fountain Park. This wall is located between the playground area and the Veteran’s Memorial.
Snake Alley is a street in Burlington, Iowa which connects portions of North Sixth street together.
A sign at the top of Snake Alley tells of its history:
Two views looking down Snake Alley:
Two views looking up Snake Alley, at a distance:
The Phelps House Museum is right next to Snake Alley on Columbia Street.
The First United Church of Christ is on the other side of Snake Alley.
On the other side of Columbia Street, we saw some roofers working on a very steep roof.
The Great River Bridge spans the Mississippi River, carrying traffic between Burlington, Iowa on the west and Gulport, Illinois on the east. Below are photos of this bridge and some of the surrounding area. My favorite is the last one of the bunch which was taken in late afternoon.
A grain elevator on the Illinois side is visible through one of the bridge supports.
This is Big Muddy’s Bar and Grill. I think I ate there once many years ago.
Looking northward up the Mississippi:
This one was taken from the east end of Spring Street. The Burlington Rail Bridge can be seen further south.
Twelve of us met on Friday to hike the Scenic Trail. Nick, Janet, Linda, and I continued on, eventually getting in a total of eleven miles for the day.
Midway up the first hill on the Scenic Trail:
Yay! We’re at the petroglyph.
Looking out at the McDowells…
Red Mountain:
Looking east from the Scenic Trail’s ridgeline.
A view to the northeast…
An interesting palo verde tree with Four Peaks in the background:
Linda looks up at a saguaro with lots of arms:
Returning to the Scenic Trail:
A view of the ridgeline that we had hiked earlier in the day:
Eleven miles total!
I saw this girl with her kitten at the Moline Airport. She told me that she had just gotten this kitten and that it didn’t have a name yet. She was traveling to California to visit a friend.
I took this photo, below, on the way to Denver.
Not far from Moline is the town of Preemption. We stopped and took this picture on our way back to the airport on Saturday.
