Any other hikers, backpackers, campers out there?

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Yesterdays hike. Finished what I failed last week. Was pretty brutal slope reaching just over 30% grade at times. Was super pumped to reach the summit. Most difficult one I have done since I really got back into it a few months back

 

 

The way down and back up the pass to the house

 

In case you've ever wondered what the inside of a saguaro cactus looks like

[PixlPutterman]

We have some fantastic outdoors here in Idaho, most of which I've yet to experience....

 

 

 

[Warrick]

That looks amazing. You guys have some beautiful places to hike.

 

On a side note, winter is coming/here.

 

campmor has the MH stretch down jackets for pretty cheap with a 20% coupon, $156, no hood, $185 hooded.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Anyone do any winter hiking? Going back to Tahoe and possibly Yosemite the first week of January. Wanna get a hike or two in but don’t want to die.

 

One thing I forgot to mention really important to have a good map or even better a gps track of the trail downloaded to your phone or handheld GPS if you are going to go on in the snow. Really easy to get off path especially in fresh snow on a lightly traveled trail. Never know if the person before you leaving tracks was actually headed in right direction.

[Warrick]

Anyone do any winter hiking? Going back to Tahoe and possibly Yosemite the first week of January. Wanna get a hike or two in but don’t want to die.

 

Good gear is the key here. Good socks, gloves. Goretex boots to start, Other than that stuff that is warm, will keep you dry but breathable for pants and tops. Last thing you want is something that does not breathe to where you sweat a ton in freezing temps. Knock your distances down it's not easy to trek through fresh and/or deep snow. Yosemite might not be all that bad snowfall wise especially in the valley.

 

Any recommendations on a good Gore Tex boot?

 

Just a heads up, only a few sizes left (9.5-10-10.5). I remembered seeing these when first released, thought it was a good looking boot, stumbled across this sale ($90), and ordered a pair for my son. I got them in today, tried them on, went right back online and ordered a pair for myself.

 

I obviously can not give a ton of feedback on performance, but seems like a really well made boot, looks good, and actually has some good reviews. It is Gore-Tex after all. I put them on with a nice thick pair of wool socks, and they seemed really comfortable. I was pleasantly surprised, as I don't always get on well with UA footwear.

 

https://www.scheels.com/p/mens-under-armour-newell-ridge-mid-gore-tex-hiking-boots/698611-1287340.html

[Warrick]

Some great deals on winter/hiking/camping/climbing gear on Campmor and Sunny Sports

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Got something a little different planned for tomorrow, after hiking the same sections of the preserve pretty much the last 4 weeks need a change of pace before I finish off the final trails of the Mcdowells. Seriously took me until yesterday for my quads to recover from the climb last weekend. Foam roller=torture btw but it helps

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Today two separate 5 mile hikes.

 

Hike 1 Lower Salt River, just outside Fountain Hills. This is a popular spot in the summer river filled with tuber floating down it consuming large quantities of booze. but in the winter not much activity besides some camping. Overall kind of a bummer between the Harleys cruising up the Bush Highway and the constant clatter of semi automatic rifle fire from the nearby target range not exactly a peaceful walk in nature. The upside is the views were decent and there were plenty of wild horses roaming about. Trails not well marked and hard to tell if actual trail or wild horse trail, even had to trailblaze my own way for a stretch to re connect to the trails.

Mt Mcdowell aka Red Mountain.

 

Pack of wild horses

 

Salt River still in some fall colors

 

 

Hike two was quite a bit better. A few miles north of hike one at Saguaro Lake.

You'll have to take my word for it here but in the center of the pic where the water ends is a bald eagle catching his lunch. You can kinda make out the white feathers. Was a really cool thing to watch.

 

totally different growth when you get near water

[gambit]

Today two separate 5 mile hikes.

 

Hike 1 Lower Salt River, just outside Fountain Hills. This is a popular spot in the summer river filled with tuber floating down it consuming large quantities of booze. but in the winter not much activity besides some camping. Overall kind of a bummer between the Harleys cruising up the Bush Highway and the constant clatter of semi automatic rifle fire from the nearby target range not exactly a peaceful walk in nature. The upside is the views were decent and there were plenty of wild horses roaming about. Trails not well marked and hard to tell if actual trail or wild horse trail, even had to trailblaze my own way for a stretch to re connect to the trails.

Mt Mcdowell aka Red Mountain.

 

Pack of wild horses

 

Salt River still in some fall colors

 

 

Hike two was quite a bit better. A few miles north of hike one at Saguaro Lake.

You'll have to take my word for it here but in the center of the pic where the water ends is a bald eagle catching his lunch. You can kinda make out the white feathers. Was a really cool thing to watch.

 

totally different growth when you get near water

 

That’s beautiful bro. Outstanding.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Walked a round of golf this morning, then decided to take my pup Honu out for a twilight hike to check of a couple of the connectors that I needed to complete so was about 3 miles. Caught a great sunset and saw a couple deer. A pretty big buck and his doe

 

He may be small but he is a natural on the trails, our other pup Zolla is a total daddy's little princess and not a fan of getting out in the dirt lol

The buck and doe totally caught me off guard, turned the corner and was just staring at the buck tried to get my phone out but a mountain biker coming up the trail scarred them off and ruined the pic

 

Another pretty dang perfect AZ sunset

[moegolfer11]

Walked a round of golf this morning, then decided to take my pup Honu out for a twilight hike to check of a couple of the connectors that I needed to complete so was about 3 miles. Caught a great sunset and saw a couple deer. A pretty big buck and his doe

 

He may be small but he is a natural on the trails, our other pup Zolla is a total daddy's little princess and not a fan of getting out in the dirt lol

The buck and doe totally caught me off guard, turned the corner and was just staring at the buck tried to get my phone out but a mountain biker coming up the trail scarred them off and ruined the pic

 

Another pretty dang perfect AZ sunset

 

Fairly large buck right there. Can't tell, how many points did he have? I got to imagine the Rut season out there is just insane.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Walked a round of golf this morning, then decided to take my pup Honu out for a twilight hike to check of a couple of the connectors that I needed to complete so was about 3 miles. Caught a great sunset and saw a couple deer. A pretty big buck and his doe

 

 

Fairly large buck right there. Can't tell, how many points did he have? I got to imagine the Rut season out there is just insane.

 

6 pointer, sucks man I came around the corner and he was just staring at me did not flinch had the perfect shot of him head on, then as soon as I got my phone out of my pocket the mountain biker scared them off and the pic got all blurry. They are usually not down that low close to the houses, but we actually had some rain yesterday and it was cool in the upper 50's so guessing they were just following the wash down for some new food sources.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Updated progress map after last weekend's hike with the dog. ~10 miles left to complete but that 10 miles involves ~3500 of new elevation gain and closer to 6k in total elevation gain if you factor in the repeat hiking I need to do to complete the remaining 5 trails. Wifey and I are going to knock out Tom's Thumb New Years eve or day. We'll do the long route as an out and back from Gateway. Even though the park is very strict about no off trail activity I did find a loophole that would allow me to get to East End Peak (the highest point in the range) There is an approved rock climbers access trail that heads in that area, while I am not a rock climber I can still use that trail. So we may throw that little side journey in as well. Once that is done the grand finale hike with be from 136th st trail head across the east side of the range ultimate ending at Tom's Thumb Trail head. Roughly 16 miles with 4k elevation. Using that route to finish I will have completed each trail going uphill not downhill.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Couple hikes over Christmas.

 

Black Mountain in Cave Creek. Short but steep. 1200 feet elevation gain on the 1.1 mile trail to the peak. No switchbacks pretty much just straight up the whole way

 

5 Mile loop yesterday out by my folks new place. This one put me over 10,300 feet elevation gain in my last 9 recorded hikes.

 

 

View of the Superstitions from the peak

[bscinstnct]

We just went on our power walk, not really a hike, usually about 4 miles in good old prospect park.

 

There are about 200 geese on a layover, I guess, there for the past couple of weeks.

 

We noticed 4 white ones that looked like this. Never seen white geese before. Very rare apparently.

 

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Bet they still cr@p all over the greens though :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:

[bscinstnct]

Bet they still cr@p all over the greens though :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:

 

Its 28*, you can use it as a golf ball ; )

[Qqq123xx]

Couple hikes over Christmas.

 

Black Mountain in Cave Creek. Short but steep. 1200 feet elevation gain on the 1.1 mile trail to the peak. No switchbacks pretty much just straight up the whole way

 

5 Mile loop yesterday out by my folks new place. This one put me over 10,300 feet elevation gain in my last 9 recorded hikes.

 

 

View of the Superstitions from the peak

Capt. Obvious here but great pics per usual. Disregard if I have already said so. Well actually don't.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Ended the year with a doozy. A big milestone hike for me. Wife and I have talked about me building up the strength and stamina to complete Tom's Thumb. The original plan was to hike the short 4 mile round trip with 1300 feet of elevation gain. After all the work I have put in the last few months I said to heck with that let's do the long route. Not only did we complete it today I added on a couple extra excursions out the lookout trail and followed a rock climbers access route out to the highest peak in the range.

 

Sunrise from our place this morning over the south end of the range.

Hike Totals The sharp peak is the scramble up to the highest peak. Not much of a trail lots of boulder scrambling 400 or so feet in .3 of a mile

 

Tom's Thumb is the large boulder sticking up just right of the cactus

Another deer sighting right on the trail

Getting closer

1st excursion to the lookout. The view towards the Supertitions and my favorite landmark in the distance. Weavers Needle.

Wifey tagged along for the first half of the hike. They went down the shorter route to the other trailhead and caught an Uber back.

The Thumb along with the hordes of people who made the shorter hike. We only saw 5 people coming up

baby thumb?

East End Peak 4059 feet highest point. Did not take a lot of pics of how sketchy the route up was mostly because I am not 100% sure it is allowed and I was in view of the main trail the first 2/3 of the way. I was trying to duck the trail stewards just in case lol.

Summit log box. So cool to have my name in there now.

Four Peaks in the distance. Cant wait to hike that peak

Obligitory peak selfie looking back towards Tom's Thumb

 

Trek back down

 

Cool 360 degree video I took at the top

https://twitter.com/...607597590257665

[gambit]

Ended the year with a doozy. A big milestone hike for me. Wife and I have talked about me building up the strength and stamina to complete Tom's Thumb. The original plan was to hike the short 4 mile round trip with 1300 feet of elevation gain. After all the work I have put in the last few months I said to heck with that let's do the long route. Not only did we complete it today I added on a couple extra excursions out the lookout trail and followed a rock climbers access route out to the highest peak in the range.

 

Sunrise from my our place this morning over the south end of the range.

Hike Totals The sharp peak is the scramble up to the highest peak. Not much of a trail lots of boulder scrambling 400 or so feet in .3 of a mile

 

Tom's Thumb is the large boulder sticking up just right of the cactus

Another deer sighting Right on the trail

Getting closer

1st excursion to the lookout. The view towards the Supertitions and my favorite landmark in the distance. Weavers Needle.

Wifey tagged along for the first half of the hike. They went down the shorter route to the other trailhead and caught an Uber back.

The Thumb along with the hordes of people who made the shorter hike. We only saw 5 people coming up

baby thumb?

East End Peak 4059 feet highest point Did not take a lot of pics of how sketchy the route up was mostly because I am not 100% sure it is allowed and I was in view of the main trail the first 2/3 of the way. I was trying to duck the trail stewards just in case lol.

Summit log box. So cool to have my name in there now.

Four Peaks in the distance. Cant wait to hike that peak

Obligitory peak selfie looking back towards Tom's Thumb

 

Trek back down

 

Cool 360 degree video I took at the top

 

Nice way to end 2017. Happy New Years

[One_Putt_Blunder]

 

 

Nice way to end 2017. Happy New Years

 

Thank You and happy New Years to you

[Melanchthon]

I received a pair of EB Trekking Poles for Christmas. Anyone else use poles?

[One_Putt_Blunder]

I received a pair of EB Trekking Poles for Christmas. Anyone else use poles?

 

I currently do not, although I am toying with the idea of getting a pair for hikes with multiple river crossing etc where it is extremely slippery. I honestly do not think I would use them for everyday hikes. Get a better core workout without them, Obviously if you have bad knees or ankle they can be a big help. Going down extremely steep terrain 30%+ slope I could see them useful. And as a last resort they always make a decent weapon if you get attacked by a critter.

[gambit]

What’s the point of the poles? I’ve seen people use them on all kinds of terrains including flat land. I would think it makes the arms more tired?

[One_Putt_Blunder]

What’s the point of the poles? I’ve seen people use them on all kinds of terrains including flat land. I would think it makes the arms more tired?

 

See above, most are collapsible and attach easily to the outside of most packs. I guess people use them for balance and to ease pressure on joints going downhill, and aide themselves going uphill. I have really not seen any need for them until I do a hike that involves multiple running creek/stream crossing as the extra balance points would be nice when dealing with super wet/slippery terrain. Not really high on my list of gear wants at the moment. I will admit I kinda chuckle when I see people doing easy flatish day hikes using treking poles.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

One last one from Sunday cleaned up a bit, Hate cloudy days cause the camera phone sucks. Although the low level haze above downtown is not clouds. We could really use some rain or at the very least a good 1-2 day 15-20mph wind to blow out all the pollution in the air. Sadly when the County says they're having a no burn day no one listens and lights up the fireplace anyway.

 

Not 100% sure what the solar box is up there for guessing it is a mini weather station?????

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Saturday Spur Cross Conservation Area. Same area as the hike in my very first pics in the thread, different trail. 7 miles ~1300 feet elevation

 

 

There are some old Hohokam Indian tribal ruins on top of the bluff unfortunately they've closed the access trail to the public so could not go up there and see them. You can kinda see them in the pic. lower right side of the bluff kinda (middle right in picture) looks like a small halfpipe

[One_Putt_Blunder]

First trip out to the Superstition Mountains on Sunday. Immediately fell in love, and we did not even get into any of the really cool spots. Only wish it was not an hours drive from home or I would be there all the time. Trail to the Wave Cave a really cool cave shaped by the wind to look like a breaking wave. Unfortunately one of the more popular trails in town and was a parade of people up and down. Most probably should not have even attempted this trail which involves a lot of semi technical boulder scrambling and slippery terrain.

 

The cave itself

Dont know if the panoramic will show up here or not. This is the east end of the Superstition Ridgeline looking NW. This particular ridgeline continues west for roughly 7 miles. The entire Superstition Wilderness is roughly 160,000 acres and backs up to the Tonto National Forrest which is almost 3,000,000 acres

 

Honu went with us. I swear the harder the trail gets the more he enjoys it. He loved jumping up and down all the rocks we had to scramble.

He looks so happy

 

For being a good dog he got a reward his own burger at the local brewery

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Sidelined again, over 18k elevation gain in last 12 hikes averaging 1500 feet or so of gain has taken its toll on my knee. Well the coming back downhill part did the real damage. Patellofemoral pain syndrome aka runners knee. Taking the next couple weeks off from any incline. Plus Barrett Jackson auction is next weekend and with it literally in my back yard getting in/out of the condo is kind of a PITA anyway. Will be going to the auction next Sat. In the meantime a lot of ice stretching and strengthening exercises at home till it goes away. Sucks we just got some decent rain for the first time in months the desert should really be coming alive this weekend too.

[One_Putt_Blunder]

Knee finally healed up enough to get back out there. Was not a fan of taking 3 weeks off, but it was the right call. Still need to work on the knee to avoid a repeat of this. Headed out to the west end of the Superstitions this weekend. Massacre Falls or Massacre Grounds trail depending on who you ask. If you follow the lore of the Lost Dutchman this is the alleged site where the Apache's cornered the Peralta Family, killed them and took their gold returning it to the mountains and burying it to never be found again.

 

Here are the falls aka the massacre sight. With 2 days of rain in the last 5 months not surprising to see no water running.

My favorite spot on the hike, just below the falls there is another cliff/ridgeline that has an incredible view of the North end of the Superstitions up to Four Peaks which looks like two peaks from this angle, West to the Goldfield Mountains

The view east Weavers needle barely sticking out over an unamed ridge line. For scope the ridgeline runs 3900-4000 feet

The view West towards downtown PHX, you can see wind gap the verticle spires carved out by the prevailing east wind. Also at the end of the cliff you can see a round hole carved out presumably by the indians as a grind pit.