For Friday’s hike, Bob, Alan, Linda, Janet, Allen, and I hiked 12.5 miles on the Pine Mountain passage of the Arizona Trail. Accumulated elevation gain was over 1800 feet.
Category: Hiking (page 47 of 68)
Hike descriptions and/or photos.
Marilyn and I hiked 4.3 miles today in McDowell Mountain Park.
Bob, Nick, Allen, Janet, and I hiked from the Spur Cross Trailhead to the top of Black Mesa. It was an arduous hike. We started at 8:00am and hiked all day with few rests, returning to our vehicle after dark. Total distance was 14 miles with over 3100 feet of total ascent. The trails in Spur Cross Ranch Conservation Area were in good condition. We had difficulty following the trails once we entered Tonto National Forest. Tall grass has grown up over the rocks blocking our view of many of the cairns. If it were not for the track that I had loaded into my GPS, we probably would not have found our way. Hiking uphill through tall grass over unseen rocks was very tiring. Despite the difficulty, I had fun on the hike anyway.
Below are two views of the fortress. We passed the path up to the top on our way back (adding two miles to our hike), but we were running short on daylight, so we left it for another day.
 
We encountered two very nice trail markers after entering Tonto National Forest.
We took a short break after passing through one of the fences.
Saguaros…
A view of Black Mesa. At the start of the day, we thought that we’d be hiking up a different nearby formation.
Bob, after emerging from one section of tall grass.
Allen, Janet, and Nick on an easy section of the hike.
A view from part way up the final ascent of Black Mesa:
It turns out that there’s a very good trail, complete with switchbacks, up to the top of Black Mesa. We couldn’t find it on the way up, however. We did find it on the way down, but it became harder and harder to follow (due to the grass) as we descended.
Another view from part way up:
We were surprised to find a tire, painted yellow, in a tree at the top of the mesa.
A view from the top:
A view of Elephant Mountain at the right and the fortress, below it to the left:
A barrel cactus alongside the trail. The trail is quite good here.
Two more views of the fortress…
We went the wrong way and missed seeing this large saguaro on our way out.
Black Mesa is the formation to the left. We started the day thinking that we’d be hiking the mesa at the right. In the morning light, it looked more like a “black mesa” than the other one.
Another view of the Fortress with the sun getting lower in the sky.
Another view of Black Mesa (left) and Sugarloaf Mountain (right):
Another view of the Fortress:
A view from the pass between Elephant Mountain and the Fortress:
More views from the Elephant Mountain Trail:
I think these last three photos were taken from the Spur Cross Trail:
Friday’s hike started from the Wagner Trailhead. We hiked Wagner to Granite, Granite to Lariat, Lariat to Pemberton, Pemberton to Delsie, which brought us back to Granite. Then, instead of taking the shortest way back, we instead turned right on Granite and then took Stoneman Wash to Bluff, Bluff to Granite, Granite to Wagner, and Wagner back to the parking area. Total distance was 10.2 miles with minimal elevation gain.
I arrived at the park early and got this photo from the Horse Staging Area prior to sunrise.
Taking a break at the intersection of Granite and Lariat. From left to right are Nick, Sandy, Amy, Doug, DeAnn, and Janet.
Amy took this photo of us:
My hike description was inaccurate. This wash crosses Lariat; we hiked up this wash, which eventually brought us back to the Pemberton.
Nick spotted these colorful seed pods.
A large rock on the Pemberton Trail:
Saguaros on the Delsie Trail:
Marilyn, Nick, and I did a short (4 mile) hike starting from the Cross F Trailhead. We hiked south a short ways on the Arizona Trail and returned via a service road.
More photos taken during our hike at Devil’s Garden (in Arches National Park) on June 5, 2013. Some of these are re-edits. Some are photos I hadn’t previously processed. These were practice for proficiency with the PPW. I tried to find a few photos with people; I need more practice at dealing with skin tones.
I think my original edit was better for this shot of the flowers. I spent a lot of time trying to color correct the foreground. I managed to set a and b (in Lab color space) to 0 for two points on the flowers. But once I had done that – and gotten the rest of the colors to look reasonable – the flowers weren’t as interesting as they might have been. I ended up adding in some color on the petals late in the process. When I was done, it looked too warm and too saturated too, so I took steps to remedy that. I think it’s okay, but I like my original edit better.
I tried to do several of these quickly. In theory, a proficient practitioner of the workflow can finish a photo in three minutes. I’m not there yet, but I did several of these a lot faster than normal.
Here’s a link to my previous edit of this Juniper tree. It’s a lot more saturated than this version.
This is Partition Arch:
Marilyn sitting on the “ledge” on the other side of Partition Arch:
Friday’s hike started at the Horse Staging Area. We hiked a ten mile loop using the Escondido, Pemberton, and Shallmo Wash trails.
I arrived early to get a few shots with a tripod…
Some views from the Escondido Trail…
Janet, Doug, Alex, Ellen, Deanne, and Bob at the intersection of Escondido and Pemberton.
Views from the Shallmo Wash Trail…
Last Friday’s hike started at the Dixie Mine Trailhead. We hiked Dixie Mine to Sonoran and took Sonoran until it joined with the Promenade Trail. At that point, Linda, Janet, Charles, Angel, and Marilyn turned back for a 7.8 mile hike. Bob and I continued on. We hiked up the Western Loop Trail, stopped briefly at the overlook and then continued on down the Western Loop Trail. We then took the recently constructed Andrews-Kinsey Trail to the Sunrise Trail. We hiked to the top of Sunrise Peak and then returned to the Fountain Hills side by retracing our steps on the Andrews-Kinsey Trail. Altogether, we hiked a little over 15 miles with 2800 feet of total ascent.
This is a view from the Sonoran Trail, somewhat before reaching the Preserve.
A view from the Western Loop Overlook:
This is another view from the Western Loop Overlook. The Andrews-Kinsey Trail is visible in this photo.
We saw some Brittlebush in bloom, which is kind of unusual for this time of the year.
A saguaro on the Andrews-Kinsey Trail:
A barrel cactus on the Andrews-Kinsey Trail:
It was crowded on top of Sunrise Peak:
This dog was able to drink directly from a water bottle! It didn’t spill much either.
Yet another view from Sunrise Peak:
This is a view of Fountain Hills as we were descending Sunrise Peak.
I noticed this rock outcropping on the way back.
Another view, from the other side, of the saguaro that we saw earlier in the hike.
More saguaros on the Andrews-Kinsey Trail:
Last Friday’s hike started from the Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. We hiked a route that took us up to the East End, the highest point in the McDowells. When we finished, Bill and I hiked into the Rock Knob Trail into McDowell Mountain Park.
The trail crosses some large boulders. This was a difficult spot for Linda.
Frank scrambles up a steep section to take a look at the views.
Frank, Allen, Bill, and Janet hike ahead of me. Bob and Linda are even further ahead!
This is a view of the Thumbnail Pinnacle. Bill told me that some people call it Lizard Rock.
A view of Thompson Peak and another, closer, peak.
Yet another view of the Thumbnail Pinnacle. It looks very different from this vantage point.
Janet and Allen on their way to the upper ridge that will lead us over to the East End.
Allen poses on a large boulder along the way.
The Thumbnail was out of sight for a while after we gained the ridge. But I noticed that it was momentarily visible again as we made our way towards the East End.
Frank gets a good view from a boulder at the crest of the ridge.
I think this is the most difficult part of the hike. A short but loose descent leads down to a good trail.
A view from the East End:
Bill, Janet, Frank, and Allen at the summit. Frank is signing the summit log.
Another view of the summit. The fountain (in Fountain Hills) can be seen behind the rocky ridge that we had to hike to get over to the summit.
Another view in the same direction. I was off of the summit at this point and took a few more photos prior to descending to the Tom’s Thumb Trail.
A view of Gardener’s Wall, Tom’s Thumb, Troon Mountain, and Pinnacle Peak:
Descending from the East End:
A view of Glass Dome and Tom’s Thumb:
Bob, Frank, Bill, Janet, and Allen hike the trail which goes past Gardener’s Wall.
Another view from the Gardener’s Wall Access Trail:
