Tag: Arizona (page 18 of 74)

February 16, 2018 / 4 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Linda, Sunaree, Gayle, John, Kay, and Ben joined me for a six and a half mile hike in the Tom’s Thumb area on Friday. Starting on the Tom’s Thumb Trail, we took the first climber’s access trail west to the ridge north of Tom’s Thumb. We followed this ridge past Tom’s Thumb to Tom’s Thumb Trail. It had been years since I last hiked the Lookout Trail, so we hiked to the end of the Lookout Trail where we could see the Windgate Pass Trail far below us. After hiking back on Lookout Trail, we hiked down Tom’s Thumb Trail, turned onto Feldspar, and then Marcus Landslide, returning via the Caballo Trail.

Midway up the climber’s access trail:

A small, but interesting pinnacle that we passed on the way up:

Gayle makes her way up the steep and sometimes loose trail:

Looking toward Scottsdale and a very hazy Phoenix:

A view of Tom’s Thumb from the ridge:

Linda, Sunaree, Kay, Ben, John, and Gayle:

A view of the west side of Tom’s Thumb:

Tom’s Thumb, again, but this time we’re seeing it from the Lookout Trail:

Heading back down Tom’s Thumb Trail:

This is one of the mushroom pinnacles near the Sven Slab area.

February 11, 2018 / 2 Comments

La Barge Battleship Saddle Loop

On Sunday, I did a hike in the Superstitions, the La Barge Battleship Saddle Loop. This hike starts at the Canyon Lake Marina, following the Boulder Canyon Trail until it reaches La Barge Creek. It then heads south down the creek until it reaches a narrows with pools of water. It then backtracks a bit and heads up to the saddle south of Battleship Mountain. I took a short side trip from the route at this point and visited the “stern” of Battleship Mountain in order to see what the opening moves of this class 3 territory look like. The route then heads to the west to Boulder Creek. From there, I rejoined the Boulder Canyon Trail which I took back to the trailhead.

A view of Battleship Mountain and Weaver’s Needle from the Boulder Canyon Trail.

Another look at Battleship Mountain. I’m still on the Boulder Canyon Trail, but am near the turnoff into La Barge Creek at this point.

One of the pools of La Barge Canyon. Prior to this the creek had been quite rocky.

Looking back down La Barge Canyon from the way I had came.

I turned around shortly after passing this pool.

At this point, I’m returning to find the trail up to Battleship Saddle. The saddle is in the sunlit section to the left. The red rock near the top of the photo is actually the starboard side of Battleship Mountain. The part at the far left in the photo would be the stern.

Looking north down La Barge Canyon on my way up to the saddle. Battleship Mountain is on the left side and Geronimo Head is on the right side.

This is the “stern” of Battleship Mountain – it’s not as impressive as the “bow” which was shown in two of the earlier photos. If you look closely, you can see two hikers making their way up at the left.

A view of Weaver’s Needle from just below the stern of Battleship Mountain.

I’ve made it through the rocky part of Boulder Canyon now. The GPS track that I was following routed me further down Boulder Canyon, but I opted to follow the trail instead.

This is the site of the Indian Paint Mine.

This is one of the walls of Geronimo Head.

Looking toward Canyon Lake on the way back.

February 10, 2018 / 3 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

We hiked 11.6 miles on Friday, following a familiar lasso-loop: Dixie Mine, Coachwhip, Windmill, Bell Pass, Prospector, service road, and Dixie Mine. We also made two short side trips, one to visit a water catchment for wildlife, and the other to the mine and petroglyphs.

Early morning on the Dixie Mine Trail…

A view from the Coachwhip Trail:

There was an ample amount of water in the tank – kind of surprising since we haven’t gotten much recent rain.

When rain falls on the corrugated sheets, it runs downhill to the trough at the bottom. From there it flows through the pipe into the large covered holding tank shown in the earlier photo. That large tank then feeds the smaller tank from which wildlife can drink.

Saguaros on the bank of the wash on our way back to the Windmill Trail:

I was told that I stepped over this gopher snake on our hike through the wash:

A view from the Windmill Trail:

Gayle noticed this colorful rock on the Windmill Trail:

Gayle, Mike Heather, Linda, Marilyn, Marilyn, Nora, and Ben:

Thompson Peak:

Saguaros on the Prospector Trail:

This is the main petroglyph panel:

February 2, 2018 / 2 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Mike, Sunaree, Randy, Kay, Gayle, Sandra, Doug, and Leslie joined me for a 9.8 mile hike starting from the Trailhead Staging Area. Much of our hike was either in Stoneman Wash or in washes feeding into Stoneman Wash.

This is a view from the Pemberton Trail shortly after leaving the trailhead.

Turning south into Stoneman Wash…

Hiking south in Stoneman Wash:

This is an east bank of the wash:

We’ve reached the Long Loop here; the wash continues to the southeast, but we turned west onto the Long Loop.

This was the the view at the intersection of the Long Loop and the service road that leads back to the Pemberton:

This is one of the views to the southwest as we hiked towards the Pemberton Trail.

Mike, Sunaree, Randy, Kay, Gayle, Sandra, Doug, and Leslie:

A view of Four Peaks from the Pemberton Trail:

After reaching the site of the ranch homestead, we continued our hike in another wash…

We eventually found ourselves back in Stoneman Wash:

January 28, 2018 / 0 Comments

Sunday Hike – North & Chuparosa Trails

Marilyn and I hiked the North and Chuparosa Trails on Sunday afternoon:

January 27, 2018 / 3 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Randy, Heather, Kay, Marilyn, Ben, Sunaree, Gayle, Bob, and Marilyn joined me for a short (6.4 mile) hike out to the mine, up the wash past the mine and then back via the Prospector Trail, the service road, and the Dixie Mine Trail.

We also went to the top of the tailings to look down into the mine’s vertical shaft.

This is a view from the top of the tailings:

Petroglyphs:

Looking back down the wash from a spot near the petroglyphs:

Randy, Heather, Kay, Marilyn, Ben, Sunaree, Gayle, Bob, and Marilyn:

A view from above the “waterfall”:

January 23, 2018 / 0 Comments

Tuesday Evening Hike

Shallmo Wash, Pemberton, Scenic, Cinch, Escondido – about 6.4 miles…

January 22, 2018 / 2 Comments

Sunday Hike – Dacite Super Loop in the Superstitions

Marilyn, Ben, Marilyn, and I hiked the Dacite Super Loop in the Superstitions.

This was an early view from the Lost Goldmine Trail:

Marilyn, Marilyn, and Ben on the Carney Springs Trail:

After leaving the Carney Springs Trail, we went the wrong way by following some prominent cairns. I hiked to the top of a ridge to see if there was a shortcut to get back to our trail. There didn’t appear to be anything easy, but I noticed this really cool rock formation while I was looking around.

Weaver’s Needle:

One of the views as we descended to Fremont Saddle:

Ben and Marilyn with the famous pine tree & Weaver’s Needle in the background:

One of the many great views from the Cave Trail:

Ben spots Marilyn as she makes her way down one of the steeper sections of the Cave Trail.

January 20, 2018 / 6 Comments

Friday Fitness Hike

Mona, Sara, Gayle, Heather, Sunaree, Randy, and I hiked the Hog Heaven Loop. Total distance was only about four and quarter miles, but we gained over 1600 feet of elevation along the way.

We encountered this view shortly after topping out at the saddle at the top of Mesquite Canyon. (I took photos of Mesquite Canyon, but it was mostly in the shade, so the photos weren’t especially compelling.)

We saw this small hook-shaped pinnacle a short while later:

Mona completes the hop boulder hop…

The group makes their way up to the base of Hog Heaven (which is out of view above Heather):

The rock wall behind the group is the main wall of the Hog Heaven climbing area:

Heather and Sara make their way up a section of granite while Gayle and Mona look on:

This is one of the scrambles between Hog Heaven and the Thumbnail Pinnacle. We’re definitely on the right route – note the cairn:

Heather, Sunaree, Gayle, Mona, Andy, and Sara posing by the Thumbnail Pinnacle:

Looking back down at the Thumbnail Pinnacle: from nearly every other vantage point, the hooked shape is clearly evident. But at this point it looks like a straight up and down spire.

Sara and Heather make their way along the northeast side of the ridge.

This the part of the loop that I like the least. The section from where Randy is standing down to where Mona has made it is steep and loose. Thankfully, there’s a bush to stop you if you should slip. It’s probably easier if you slide down it on your butt, but I never do it that way.

We had some great views as we made our way along the southwest side of the ridge leading over to the East End (peak)…

Sara and Sunaree at the highest point in the McDowells. Sunaree is signing the summit register.

Descending the climber’s access Trail from the East End:

Glass Dome (left) and Tom’s Thumb:

Gardener’s Wall and Tom’s Thumb:

When the hike was done, I added on nearly seven more miles by hiking into McDowell Mountain Regional Park. If you look closely at the photo below, you can see the Thumbnail Pinnacle. It looks very small from here.

This is a view of Rock Knob from the Pemberton Trail:

January 15, 2018 / 0 Comments

Sunday Hike – Pass Mountain / Bulldog Saddle Loop

Marilyn and I hiked the Pass Mountain Trail on Sunday. She waited for me at the pass while I extended my hike a bit by hiking the Bulldog Saddle Trail. On past hikes of Pass Mountain, I had seen this trail to the east as we were hiking up to the pass and wanted to hike it – well, on Sunday I got my chance. It turned out to be a very well trodden and well defined trail; I was hoping for more of a route finding challenge. But the views were still good though.