ARIZONA

Oct 18, 2010 to

nature
2/25/11

Sedona - Bear Mountain

Elevation: 6434 ft

Elevation Gain: 1834 ft

Distance: 5 mi round trip

2/24/11 South Mountain Ride Parked the car at the entrance ranger station and biked to the end of W San Juan Rd.  Closed to traffic on weekdays so it was great with no cars.  Turned around and road up to Dobbins Lookout..   Continued up the road to Gila Valley Lookout behind the towers.  Leaving Gila Lookout is about a 7 mile down hill.  About 23 total miles.
2/14/11

Flatiron - Superstition Mts.

Elevation: 4860 ft

Elevation Gain: 2780 ft

Distance: 6.4 mi round trip

 

1/6/11

Terri and I hike the Spur Cross ranch area.  It's the best desert landscape that I have seen in the time I've been here.  Along the Metate trail there are several huge cactus, some in various states of decay, very interesting.  This is a valley that is thick with cactus of many varieties.  There is also a stream that runs through it which probably accounts for it's beauty.

12/20/10 South Mountain - This was a great hike along the Desert Classic trail.  I found these cactus along the way, two were growing out of rocks.  Also discovered a mountain to road bike up, saw 7 bikers.  Also there were a lot of mountain bikers..

12/19/10 New River Rd Biked 27 miles, nothing great here, mild traffic, probably won't go back.
12/18/10 Lookout Mountain

Turtle Dove
12/16/10 Deer Vally Rock Art Center

3711 W. Deer Valley Rd.

Interesting seeing the Hedgpeth Hill petroglph site.  

12/10/10 Browns Peak - video Highest of the Four Peaks.  This took 3 hours to drive to from the hotel, one hour on the highway and then 2 hours to drive 21 miles in a jeep to the trail head.  The drive had a great desert view.  The hike started in the woods and presented a few challenging climbs.  The write-ups were right when they said you had a little "exposure" but the risk of falling was not great.
Quartz Peak South of Phoenix, required about an hour of jeep driving in the sand.  Nice hike, lacked about 300 feet from reaching the top, we ran out of time.
Camelback Mountain
Piestewa Peak
Bartlett Dam Rd Did better on this day, average 10.8 and only had to stop a couple time.
Bartlett Dam Rd This is a 14 mile bike ride that is through a beautiful desert mountainous area.  I was a challenge ridding out, pretty steep, had to walk the bike quite a bit, only averaged 10.4 mph.
11/1/10 Grand Canyon - Horseshoe Mesa - Hance Rapids - Horseshoe Mesa Didn't get to the canyon til 4pm that evening to get my hiking permit.  Hiked down Horseshoe Mesa in the dark and stayed the first night.  The second day hiked to Hance Rapids, about 8 miles thinking of camping there to hike out New Hance trail the next day.  Discovered that New Hance is a difficult trail to follow so decided to hike out the same way I came in.  I started back in the dark to make the next days climb a little shorter.  Made it out about 2 hours before pitching the tent.  Next morning hiked out.
10/2/10 Grand Canyon - Hermits Rest - Monument Camp - Tonto Trail to Indian Gardens - Bright Angel Trail Drove up after work, spent the night in the car, watched the sunrise over the canyon.  Hiked down Hermits trail to Monument Campsite.  Next day hiked 10 miles to Indian Gardens via the Tonto trail.  Great view hiking along Tonto trail.
9/25/10 Grand Canyon - Mesa Day hike to Horseshoe Mesa, the east tip.