Bob and I met Linda and Nancy at the Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. We hiked with Linda and Nancy to the Feldspar Trail. Bob and I scrambled up a low angle slab just off the trail. Linda took some photos of us and then continued on with Nancy, hiking a loop over over 10 miles!
Bob and I proceeded to the top of Sven Tower I and then hiked past Sven Towers I, II, and III where we joined the trail that led us to Hog Heaven. From there we made our way up to the Thumbnail Pinnacle and then to the East End, the highest point in the McDowells. We then hiked down to the Tom’s Thumb Trail, hiked up Tom’s Thumb, proceeded past Tom’s Thumb along the top of the ridge to the north. We followed the trail back down the Tom’s Thumb Trail and then back to the trailhead for a hike of 5.4 miles with over 2400 feet of accumulated ascent.
Linda took these photos of me and Bob making our way up the low angle slab just off the Feldspar Trail:
I took this photo of Linda and Nancy at the bottom of the slab.
This is a view from the highest point in the Sven Tower I area. The Thumbnail pinnacle can be seen atop the ridge just right of center.
A view looking back down Mesquite Canyon.
Another view of the terrain ahead.
This is a view from the pass.
The sun rays through the clouds were interesting.
The trail proceeds across these granite boulders.
Looking up at Hog Heaven:
We’ve arrived at Hog Heaven. This is the main climbing wall.
Making our way up past Hog Heaven…
A view of the Thumbnail from below.
A view of the Thumbnail Pinnacle from the side.
Yet another view…
Looking toward Scottsdale:
Yet another view of the Thumbnail Pinnacle with the Fountain (in Fountain Hills) in the distance.
We’ve made our way most of the way across the ridge by this point.
This is a view of Tom’s Thumb from the ridge to the North. The rock formation at the far right is known as the Rist.
(I have a bunch of photos of the trail in between, but haven’t gotten around to processing them yet.)
On our hike an the lower slopes, we came across some deer!
Higher on the trail, we had encountered a pair of climber setting up to top rope a climb on Fort McDowell. After taking a photo of the deer, I turned around and got this photo of one of the climber rappelling the route.
