Phil & Steve

Cactus Forest Hike (Total)

Well today Beth and I set out to do the entire Catus Forest Trail from beginning to end.  It was much easier than expected and was actually a really nice hike.  For some unknown reason I left the Camera in the car so I did not get any pics of my lovely hiking complanion or anything else.  Over the next few days if the weather stays cool I will go out and do the hike again and take some pics of the area.  You can see highlights of the pictures that I took by clicking here -> Pictures

Here is the GPS Data for the hike

1. Start Hike - We started the hike at the end of Bradway.  There was lots of people and lots of horses this is always a good thing.
2. Shade - This was an area that we found just of the trail that was VERY shaded and nice.
3. Mica - This is the trailhead for the Mica View Trail.
4. Concrete Something - At first I was thinking this was the lime kiln but not really sure what this was.
5. Lime - Yep I finally found them, this is where the lime kilns are!
6. Dead - This is a dead end trail but seems to have a nice view, need to check it out.
7. Old - This is where the Cactus Forest Trail ends and there is a trail to get down to Spanish Trail.  You can just stop the hike here and walk on the Cactus Loop road back to the enterance to the Saguaro National Park.
8. Head - This is the end...

Douglas Springs Trail Hike

Another really nice hike this one a bit more intesnse than others.  The hike stars at the very end of Speedway there is lots of good parking.  I started the hike a bit later than I wanted to at 9:50 AM.  The base of the hike was 2809 ft and by the time I was at Three Tank it was 3700 ft.  There were hikers on the trail both going up and coming down so it was nice to have humans around. You can see highlights of the pictures that I took by clicking here -> pictures.

Here is he GPS data from the hike

1. WENTWORTH - Was a short hike to get to this trail head
2. Begin Steep - This is where the trail beging to climb more quickly
3. Owl - This is where I could hear a cool sounding Owl but I could not see it
4. CARRILLO - I was a bit out of breath (grin) when I got here
5. THREE TANK - This is the top of my hike and I was glad I made dam its hard to get back into shape

Shantz Trail Hike

This was more of a light work out then a hike since I had a really late start and it was getting really hot I did not push it.  In fact I was board with the trail and wanted to cheat and go back on the road but there was a barbed wire fence all along Speeway so I had to double back on the trail.   You can see highlights of the pictures that I took by clicking here -> Pictures

3+ Miles

Here is the GPS data from the hike

1. T - This is an unknow marker maybe next time I go out there I will figure it out what it is
2. Palo Verde - This is the trailhead to the Palo Verde trail
3. Kennedy - This is the trailhead to the Kennedy trail
4. Sand - This part of the hike was not all that fun DEEP sand
5. Wentworth - This is the trailhead o the Wentworth trail
6. Exit out please - This is where I was able to sneak back out the Speedway in the future I would suggest startng the hike from this location.

Cactus Forest Hike

Pup (Murphy) and I went for a hike in the Saguaro National Park the Cactus Forest with is part of the Loma Verde trailhead.  We entered the trail from parking 1500 feet from the dead end of Broadway.  I would recconend going to the visitor center on Old Spanish Trail getting a trail map and starting your hike from there.  We did not have a trail map and made a wrong turn and ended up hiking about 1 extra mile (giggle).  We did not realized to a few miles into the hike that there was a road that snaked it's way around the entire area (Cactus Loop - starts at the visitor center).  One of the reason I wanted to go to this area is that book mentioned lime kilns from the 1800's.  We never found the kilns but along the way we found really cool cactus logs, and a very odd dry river that had erroded the side if a HUGE hill.  The hike was really nice quite flat but there is a huge amount of trails (so many we got a touch lost) that it a area that you can get a really good work out.  I plan on going back soon and continuing to look for the lime kilns.

See the rest of the pictures from the hike here

Pipes Canyon

I will write more about this hike but here are the a few pictures and then link below to all the pic

all the pics from the hike are here

Desert Hiking Is Serious (Grottos)

A picture is worth a thousand words.  He is Steve when we were about 1/3 of the way through our hike yesturday.  We hike very often in the desert and have never had any issues with doing so but now we have.  We used a book that we liked (past tense) and maps are not clear.  Perhaps to a more expereinced map reader but we could not make sense of the details.  Some  very valuable lessons learned.

1. Eat before hiking and not just a english muffin (what what we had), bring a few power bars
2. No hiking without really knowing the details and the map
3. Call a friend and tell them where you are going and when we will be back
4. Bring lots of water, so you have to lug it will make you remeber your limits more quickly
5. KNOW YOUR LIMITS do not get caught up in the moment of taking pictures

Here is a picture of Steve when we finally got back to the trail head at 1:16 PM

See the whole hike and the step by step account

Here is a map of the hike

Carl Lykken Trail (Hike)

Was a really nice hike on a really nice day. We started the hike at 10 am, took about 1 hour to get to the top and about an hour to get back down again. By the time we got down it was 94 degees but we have plenty of water so it was not big deal.

To see all the pics

The Garstin Trail @ Palm Springs

We started out on the hike at 5 PM after a long day at work for Steve. We head up the trail and it was obvious that we would not do the entire trail Steve was tired from working on his feet all day and that the trail was quite nice and we wanted to come back and do the whole thing another time. In some places the trail was a bit steep but not really that bad and most of the time it was quite easy (even for fat bears like us).

To see all the pictures