Got away from the valley's forecasted 110 degree weather to escape to the Prescott areas cooler temps. It was in the low 80's when I started and in the mid 90's when I finished this hike. The nice part of this hike is that you can find allot of shade on this track. This time of year I'd recommend taking this trail on counterclockwise. It's longer to the top (6 mi. vs. 4 mi.), less steep, and has more tree cover.

For being what I'm told to be a very popular hike, I saw only 8 hikers, 4 mountain bikers, 8 horse/mules, and two guys that drove to the top. I stopped in to see Ranger Suzie and her dog Space. All was quiet on this visit to the tower. We got to talking about some of the different rangers and she mentioned that Red from Aztec Peak had visited her tower last year. Small world. While up there, there were 10 to 15 Ravens flying all around the Tower. Suzie told me a story of how the Ravens were going through their courtship rituals for the last couple of days. They were dive bombing, flying upside down, picking up sticks and then dropping them while in flight, and being generally noisy. The Ravens followed me for at least a mile down the trail when I left.

Close to the bottom, I stopped and played in the Rock Playground. It's quite cool with all the balancing rocks and their little nooks and crannies.