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!)
Tag: Arizona (page 57 of 74)
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.
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!
We met at the Tom’s Thumb Trailhead for Friday’s hike. A new hiker to our group, Marilyn, joined Bob, Amy, Janet, and me for a hike up to Tom’s Thumb.
Below is a view of Tom’s Thumb and the surrounding area in the early morning light.
We saw this cluster of rocks early on, through one of the easier stretches. I think the boulders in the picture below are on private land.
We saw a red-tailed hawk on the top of a rock, just as the trail started getting steep.
Another view of the rock upon which the hawk was perched:
Two views of Troon and Pinnacle Peak, off in the distance:
We got high enough to see a Juniper Tree.
A view to the west taken from the ridge west of Tom’s Thumb:
The East End, the very top of Gardener’s Wall, Glass Dome, Weaver’s Needle, Tom’s Thumb, and the Rist are all visible in this photo.
We noticed that we could see downtown Phoenix from the ridge near Tom’s Thumb. (Scottsdale is the closer community though.)
A view of the west side of Tom’s Thumb. (The camera is looking east.)
Marilyn, Amy, Janet, and Bob approach Tom’s Thumb.
A photo of the five of us on the east side of Tom’s Thumb:
Another pinnacle that we noticed on our descent. (I don’t know the name of it.)
I chose a rocky path for part of our descent…
Marilyn, looking down into the canyon below Gardener’s Wall:
We hiked the Scenic Trail for last Friday’s hike. When we were done with the Scenic Trail, Marilyn, Linda, Nancy, Janet, and I hiked another five miles, visiting the Tortoise enclosure and the wreck of the old Chevy along the way. Our total distance was around 9.5 miles.
Red Mountain as seen from the Scenic Trail:
Another view of Red Mountain with some large saguaros in the foreground:
Amy and I took this group photo in the wash just off of the Scenic Trail. (The Scenic Trail used to be routed through this wash.) From left to right are Amy, Nancy, Linda, Janet, Linda, Marilyn, and Kevin.
Rand told me that the friendly tortoise in the enclosure is named Scarlett. She crawled toward us and opened her mouth several times during our visit. I think she wanted us to feed her. (I learned from Amy, later on, that this tortoise’s name is actually Alice. There is another tortoise named Scarlet in the enclosure.)
This is the saguaro that’s at the intersection of the Wagner and Granite trails. The McDowell mountains are in the background.
Stoneman Wash:
This is the old Chevy in Stoneman Wash.
Friday’s Hike started at the Wagner Trailhead. We hiked Wagner to Granite, Granite to the Bluff Trail Wash, the wash to Pemberton, Pemberton to Delsie, Delsie back to Granite, Granite to Wagner, and Wagner to the Trailhead. Total distance was 9.75 miles.
We encountered this wash on the Wagner Trail. This wash sometimes has deep sand in it. When I started mountain biking, I fell while crossing it at least once.
Bob and Sarge:
Approaching the scramble for the Bluff Wash. (That’s not an official name.)
Jerry, Joe, Nancy, Sarge (in front), Bob, and Janet. Tom and Michelle hiked partway with us, but continued their hike on the Granite at the point where we turned into the wash.
A view of the McDowells from the Pemberton Trail.
Saguaros on the Delsie Trail.
A small portion of a buckhorn cholla:
We saw a tarantula while hiking back on the Delsie Trail. I took a lot of photos, but these were the only ones which were close to being in focus. Clearly, I need to work on my technique – I think I’m taking to long to frame the shot after acquiring focus. This works for static scenes, but not very well for moving subjects.
A mountain biker on the Delsie Trail.
Bob, the Frog is another creation of sculptor Randy Hand. It was donated by the Rotary Club of Fountain Hills, Randy & Mary Hand, Mary & Joe Cavinato, Jackie & Jerry Miles, Mardelle Willson, and by The Sunridge Foundation.
Sculptor Randy Hand created this piece, titled George, the Tortoise. It’s located near the playground in the Fountain Park. The plaques affixed to a nearby wall show an impressive number of donors, many of whom are grandparents honoring their grandchildren.
