Hike descriptions and/or photos.
Marilyn hiked four miles of the Pine Canyon Trail with me. At the four mile mark, I went on and she turned back, eventually picking me up at the northern end of the trail further up Beeline Highway. I hiked nearly 12 miles with over 2500 feet of total ascent.
Linda and I hiked 10.5 miles starting from the Four Peaks Trailhead.
Colorful, pre-hike clouds.
A view of Red Mountain from the Technical Loop:
Linda and I were both surprised at how green the ocotillos are.
We looked for a descent into this small canyon, but the two nearby drainages were too steep.
Senna:
There was once a shooting range in the park?
9 miles on Wednesday Night. I was testing a new headlamp which allowed me to see a number of night-time critters. I saw a tarantula, three scorpions, several packrats, a couple of bunnies, and an owl!
On Sunday, I drove to the Pine Trailhead and did an out-and-back hike of the Highline and Donahue trails. I also hiked two forest roads beyond the Donahue Trail – these were FR 218 (Milk Ranch Point Road) and FR 9382L. The hike that I did – well, the return portion, anyway – is the latter half of a loop that can be done. I’m thinking about doing this loop and wanted to scout the latter part of the hike.
I hiked 10.6 miles on Friday: Dixie Mine, Coachwhip, Windmill, Bell Pass, Prospector, and back on Dixie Mine.
Sunrise from the approach through Eagles Nest:
A view from the Dixie Mine Trail:
A view from the Coachwhip Trail.
Arizona Poppies – I saw these in a wash running across the Windmill Trail.
A view of Four Peaks from the Bell Pass Trail:
A view from the Prospector Trail:
Barrel Cactus blooms on the Dixie Mine Trail:
Only 2.77 miles on Tuesday Night – I knew it was going to rain, so I kept it short. I got wet, but my camera survived this one.
You can see the rain in front of the Superstitions and Goldfields…
I got this photo of the sunset from the T-Bone Ridge. After leaving this point, I sealed my camera up in a zip lock bag. It got very windy as I descended and I felt a few drops of rain as I approached the culvert for “The Chunnel”. I decided to return via the Sport Loop; it started raining in earnest as I made my way back on the Sport Loop.
6.4 miles in MMRP…
I did 8.1 miles on this loop hike in the Mazatzals.
This is Brunson Tank. Not much water, but more than there was when I did the same hike in March.
This is a flower on the side of an agave stalk. (It may even be a Century Plant.) The leaves at the bottom of the plant were dead. I would guess that the main blooms were at the top of the stock a season ago.
Almost done with the hike – I liked the shape of this cone shaped hill.
Starting from the Wagner Trailhead, I hiked 13.4 miles on Friday morning. I did Wagner, left on Granite, right on Bluff, left on Pemberton, right on Rock Knob (and slightly past the intersection with Gooseneck before returning to Gooseneck), Gooseneck, connector trail leading to Saguaro Nest, a short ways on Saguaro Nest, right onto another connector leading back to the park, left on Pemberton, right on Lariat, left on Granite, and left on Wagner.
Sunrise from the Wagner Trail:
Desert Senna:
Looking toward the McDowells from the Bluff Trail:
Looking toward Four Peaks from the Bluff Trail:
A view of Sven Slab (left) and Tom’s Thumb (right) from the Rock Knob Trail. I had hiked a short ways past the intersection with Gooseneck to get this photo.
A view from the Gooseneck Trail:
I think this is the most water that I’ve ever seen in Granite Tank!
White Thorn Acacia:
Barrel Cactus:
7.7 miles on Wednesday Night. I got caught in the monsoon midway through the hike and got wet.
This is the triplog I posted on HAZ:
A wet hike in MMRP…
I was planning on just doing one of my normal workout loops in MMRP. I figured it’d be hot and dry.
After my wife dropped me off at the entrance station, I walked through the horse staging area and then hiked Shallmo, getting what I think might be a good photo along the way. Not sure I’ll be able to retrieve it because the camera seems to be dead at the moment – but the memory card might still work.
Anyway, I continued on Pemberton and started seeing lightning off in the distance. Started up Scenic and noticed rain converging on the park from both east and west. Took a photo of this phenomenon, put the camera in a plastic zip lock bag (which I maybe didn’t totally zip?) and continued on. Moments later the rain started…
It was coming at me sideways from the east. Gusts of wind while hiking the ridgeline of the Scenic trail nearly caused me to lose my balance several times. As I continued on, the trail turned into a small stream, forcing me to one side and then the other (repeatedly) for better footing. At other times, I walked through the water because that was easier. The wind was especially fierce at a few points where it was funneled over the ridge by terrain to the east. The sideways rain was especially hard in these areas and gave my exposed skin a good scouring. The brim of my hat protected my face and side of my head.
I got out my headlamp for the last descent from the ridge. The rain had, somehow, started blowing at me from the other direction. I got a call from my daughter wondering where I was as I made my way down. She and my son set out to pick me up. I told them to bring lots of towels.
The rain let up somewhat by the time I got to Cinch, but a relatively minor wash was flowing pretty heavily and I had to figure out how to ford it. I tried crossing at a narrower section, but the bank on the other side was too high to go up in the wet conditions. I backtracked and crossed where the trail was. The water was about calf deep.
The rain had pretty much stopped by the time I got to Escondido. I met my kids at the entrance station. My son had driven his jeep and had somehow managed to cross three heavily flowing washes on the way to the park.
On the way back, he passed some stopped vehicles and crossed two of the washes, but at the last wash a police officer had blocked the road on the other side. We got out and crossed the wash on foot, then talked to the officer for a while. We waited and noticed that the water level was going down. But there was still a lot of debris – large rocks and some branches in the road. Four of us, myself, my kids, and another motorist spent 15-20 minutes clearing the worst of the debris. There was now a driveable path from one side to the other. Somewhat to my surprise, the cop let us all cross – first the northbound direction and then the southbound.
It turned out to be a much bigger adventure than I expected!
