There are all different kinds of hikes: fun hikes like the one we took last week where we skinnied through a small slit between two rocks and then limboed under a low crack between two boulders. Some hikes have a goal like the hike we took to the top of Black Top Mesa to find the Spanish Petroglyphs. Then there are the challenge hikes when Gary and I challenge ourselves and each other to a longer steeper hike. Well, today was one of those. One of those trails where I wonder if I can still make this. We did it two years ago - twice - once each direction. But that was 2 (count them), 2 years ago - when I was 67 years old. I’m 69 now, heading into 70 and maybe I should concentrate on canasta. Yeah, yeah, I know there are 75-yr-olds who hike the Appalachian Trail. But, not I.
But, hey, if we don’t try it, we’ll never know. Let’s hit the trail. And we were off. Long trip to the trail head and there aren’t any alternatives. In fact, so few alternatives that everyone else was on the same highway. Slow and go traveling. (What in the world are we behind?)
An hour trip stretched to 1 1/2 hours. Finally, we turned off the highway onto the road towards the trail head. Pretty political this road. We remembered the signs from previous drives and, sure enough, they were still there. The first one reads ‘Who protects us from dishonest police?’
At the trail head we geared up and headed up the trail. Oof-da. It seemed to be steeper and higher than we remembered. Here’s the trail map to show our hike.
We began at the middle top, on the red dot and headed up steeply up on Tom’s Thumb Trail, the black line. At the top, we turned to our left and hiked down East End Trail, the white line, to the Windgate Pass Trail, the blue line. We hiked along it up to the pass and then down to the Tom’s Thumb Trail in the lower left and then turned right up Tom’s Thumb Trail, the black squiggly line, - all the way to the top and then back down to the trail head, the red dot at the top. A lolly pop-shaped trail. Up - down, up - down, up - down. Hmmm. Are we having fun yet?
But the views - absolutely awesome, especially at the top of Tom’s Thumb. My favorite is when I can see several lines of mountains in the distance. All worth the hike.
The first part of the trail, the hike to Tom’s Thumb is really popular and lots of people hike it - some every day. We met several groups headed on down the trail (OMG - what time had they started?) and a group of 4 women, the Thursday Hiking Club, at the top who took our picture at the trail sign with the awesome Tom’s Thumb in the background.
Then, when we turned to head down the East End Trail, we found ourselves alone for several hours. This is one of the best parts about hiking - just us and nature. Not another soul for miles. Well, that’s kinda true. We can see that little fingers of private land extend in towards the Preserve but for the most part this is pristine wilderness.
So - let’s have a little history as we hike along. In 1991 the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy began as a grass-roots organization committed to preserving the McDowell Mountains and surrounding Sonoran Desert. 2 years later, the town of Scottsdale dedicated 5 acres to the McDowell Mt. Preserve. And it snowballed from there: more land, more trails, more volunteers, more conservation. In 2012, Scottsdale added 10,700+ acres to the preserve. Marvelous trails dug out of the rock hillsides, special sections set aside as cactus gardens, great Visitor Centers manned on the weekends by volunteers, educational activities for kids, good signage and - toilets at each trail head. Knowing how much money they could have made by selling this area off piecemeal to developers, we are happy that it was all set aside for all to use and enjoy. Have we made donations to the Conservancy? You betcha.
Windgate Pass is the low section in the above picture and we finally made it to the top of the pass.
We hiked alone for a while until we met Sadie and her hiking partner, Melanie. Cute little black and white long-haired dog, tongue hanging out and panting almost as much as I was. She bounded up to where we were sitting eating our lunch and proceeded to greet us. No leash, just running wherever. Cute, friendly and smiling but no barking at all. We headed on down the trail with Sadie and Melanie and another couple who were a bit lost on the trail. We were ahead but Sadie caught up with us and we noticed the cholla burr stuck in her leg. Big, lots of spikes. Ouch. We stopped her, Melanie caught up and finally the other couple and we were all working on the burr. We all held her while Gary tried to pull the spines out with his pliers, but every time he got close, Sadie writhed, jumped and jerked her head to pull the spines out herself with her mouth. Oh, cripes, spines in her tongue and lips now.
Finally, Gary got some spines out while the other woman used Sadie’s waterproof water container to bat the burr away. She was so stressed that she was shedding a lot. Finally we got most of the burr and the spines out of her leg and tongue, Melanie put the leash on and they headed on down the trail. No wonder the signs on the trails say to ALWAYS have a dog on a leash. There are so many cacti in the desert. How’s a dog to know? Poor Sadie, just couldn’t understand that we were trying to help her. It hurt.
We got to the bottom on the trail and turned back up towards Tom’s Thumb, that granite block at the top of the picture.
A long, steep climb, a real huffer - ARE WE HAVING FUN YET? This is one of those climbs with so many steep switchbacks that I realize that I’ve got to take a picture at each one - just to catch my breath. The picture of the chollas above was one of those ‘huff, puff, oh, I’ve got to get a picture of that, huff, puff.’ But, if you look closely around the bottom of the big cholla, you can see some of the little burrs that got caught in Sadie’s paw.
Well, yes there are times when I question our sanity. But, yes, we were having fun. At the top, we took time to get some pictures. Look at these beautiful rocks, rounded by the wind and rain over hundreds of thousands of years. I felt like Wilma Flintstone surveying the landscape. Any minute now, Dino will run out from behind one of the boulders.
Here’s a curious fact: we met a conservancy geologist towards the beginning of our hike and he pointed out the differences in ages of the rocks on either side of the canyon we were hiking down. One side were well-rounded rocks about 1.7 billion years old but, on the other side of the canyon, there are sharp-edged rocks, babies at 1.4 billion years. Somewhere, along the trail in the middle 300,000 years were lost. This is quite an anomaly and geologists come from all over the world to study these rocks. I’m thinking - he must mean million not billion. Nope, I looked it up and according to the website the rocks are: '1800 to 1400 million years of age' Shucks, we were just hiking along and not even appreciating what a world wonder these rocks are.
In this picture, the trail we hiked is between these two different kinds or rocks, the sharp edged ones in front and the rounded ones in back. Cool.
Ah, down the last part of the trail and we were finally back at the trail head. This 69-yr old made it. So did Gary, but I had no doubt that he would - me, well . . .
On the highway back to the resort, we saw this license plate, a little blurry since we were bounding along some construction: ‘Nurse by day, zombie slayer by night.’
‘Remember that time spent on a (hike) isn't subtracted from your life span.’
Will Niccolls
10 miles 2800’
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