Linda and I hiked out to the mine / petroglyphs and back. Our total distance was only 6.3 miles. I had considered going further since we had a relatively cool morning, but it was still uncomfortable due to higher than normal humidity (for AZ).
Tag: Friday Fitness Hike (page 16 of 36)
Bob, Mike, and I hiked 7.2 miles starting from the Trailhead Staging Area. Aside from about two miles on the Pemberton Trail, most of our hike was through washes in the area.
Sunrise; I took this photo from the road, shortly after passing the entrance to the Horse Staging Area.
A view from the Pemberton Trail, shortly after crossing Stoneman Wash, but prior to reaching the intersection with the Tonto Tank Trail.
Wash Views…
Kevin and I (yes, another Kevin) hiked a little over eight miles on Friday. We hiked the Dixie Mine Trail to the mine, past the petroglyphs, to the Prospector Trail. We hiked up Prospector, nearly to the Bell Pass Trail. From there, we turned around, returning via Prospector, the Thompson Peak Service Road, and Dixie Mine Trail. It was a warm day; I didn’t take many photos as we were more concerned with finishing before it got too hot.
Near the petroglyph panel…
Approaching the waterfall area:
A view from the Prospector Trail:
Prickly Pear on the Prospector Trail:
Another view from the Prospector Trail:
Heather, Mike, Bob, and I hiked a little over seven miles starting from the Wagner Trailhead. Heather frequently hikes in the Cave Creek area. She’s hiked in McDowell Mountain Park in the past, but I think this is the first time she’s hiked with us.
I wasn’t sure I liked this sunrise photo (below) enough to work on it, but I decided to process it anyway for the practice. It was made from two separate exposures, one taken at -2EV, which I used for the sun and sky. The other exposure was taken at +2EV and had my finger extending from the top of the photo down to the horizon in order to cover up the sun. Blocking the sun prevents lens flare which generally degrades the darker areas of the image. (Images with such flare are often inferior even well away from the obvious flare spots.) I used to try to fix the flare spots, but have found that the results are vastly better by preventing the flare from happening in the first place.
After working on the image for a while, I noticed a colored banding in the sky. I corrected this by blurring the A and B channels in LAB mode (masking the color-blurred layer to just the sky) in order to eliminate colored banding from the sun.
I also made some late color moves involving the sky to avoid the muddy brown color surrounding the sun – I decreased the largish positive value for B, which made the area around the sun somewhat more orange (than the muddy brown color).
I added some flare effects back using Topaz Star Effects and then made the sky a bit more interesting using Topaz Impression. The Topaz Impression effects were used at a very low opacity and were masked away entirely from the lower portion of the image.
It’s not a bad result (if I do say so myself) from what started out as a fairly boring image.
The boulders in this photo were our first obstacle while hiking up Bluff Wash. The move at the bottom seemed easier this time; we all made it without much difficulty.
Making our way through a narrow section of the wash…
A view from Bluff Wash:
We hiked Bluff Wash to the Pemberton Trail and via the Bluff Trail (which, in places, is only a hundred yards or so from Bluff Wash). This is a view from the Bluff Trail.
Mike, Bob, Linda, and I hiked six miles starting from the Horse Staging Area. Our route took us out for a short ways on the Long Loop, then up Stoneman Wash. We finished by coming back on the latter portion of the Sport Loop.
Sunrise:
Shortly after sunrise, looking towards the Superstitions. Weaver’s Needle and the Flat Iron are both visible in this photo.
Had I been a little quicker, I would have gotten two birds in this photo. You can see part of the wing and tail disappearing behind the saguaro. A moment earlier, it was perched on the top of the lower arm.
A view from Stoneman Wash:
A view from the Sport Loop:
Marilyn and I hiked the Marcus Landslide Trail on Friday. I added on the Feldspar Trail and a little bit of the Tom’s Thumb Trail at the end to bring my mileage up to six miles.
Marilyn, Linda, Bob, and I hiked a six mile loop starting from the Trailhead Staging Area.
A view of Four Peaks from the Scenic Trail:
A view of Red Mountain from the Scenic Trail:
Marilyn, Linda, and Bob on the Shallmo Wash Trail:
A saguaro in bloom, just off the Shallmo Wash Trail:
Mike, Ben, Linda, and I hiked 9.8 miles with a total elevation gain just shy of 2,000 feet. Denise joined us for the early part of the hike, turning back shortly after entering the preserve. We hiked these trails on the way out: Dixie Mine, Sonoran, Promenade, Western Loop (and Western Loop Overlook). After finishing the Western Loop trail, we returned via the Promenade, Sonoran, and Dixie Mine trails.
Views from the Sonoran Trail…
Mike, Linda, and Ben on the Western Loop Trail:
This is a view from the Western Loop trail as we were descending. Development in Adero Canyon is quite the eyesore.
Saguaro Blossoms on the Sonoran Trail:
Cholla:
Mike and I hiked nine miles starting from the Wagner Trailhead.
These photos are a bit different from the usual ones that I get of this area – I used a 70-300mm lens on this set. The longer focal lengths make the distant mountains appear closer.
I used Topaz Impression when processing some of them too.
Bob and I hiked four miles in the Tom’s Thumb area on Friday. We hiked up Mesquite Canyon and then proceeded on the climber’s access trail to a point just past Hog Heaven, nearly to the Thumbnail Pinnacle, for roughly1500 feet of total ascent. We did this hike as an out-and-back; we had planned on making it a loop, but unfortunately made an (energy depleting) wrong turn after Hog Heaven, getting into some fairly difficult terrain. We removed the cairn which led us up the wrong path and added a few more indicating the correct route.
Bob and I hiked up the low angle slabs to the ridge line of the Sven Slab / Sven Tower I area.
Bob, making his way up the bottom-most slab.
Hummingbird and saguaro blossoms:
Morrell’s Wall and Tom’s Thumb:
I’m not sure what this plant is, but we saw a lot of it growing on the slabs as we made our way up.
I think this might be the very top of Sven Tower III. The Thumbnail Pinnacle is visible in the distance.
Prickly Pear Blossom:
Bob crossing Linda’s “favorite” spot on this hike:
A good view of Marcus Landslide, below. It’s also an expansive view of McDowell Mountain Park.
