After being in exile for 3 years, I made a return to the dystopian Mad Max Road Warrior Loop. I arrived at 0-4-55 just as the uniformed ecologist was preparing the waystation portal for this day's band of fearless explorers. I was shortly thereafter joined by the beautiful and deadly Gallydoll who was armed and ready for any beasts or harsh environmental adversities we may encounter on the Warrior ascent. Time has not been kind to this desolate landscape as we found it void of any living organism. After cresting the Ma-Ha-Tauk ridgeline we started our descent on the Alta trajectory and passed four wise wanderers from the West. They were able to provide a detailed account of the terrors that may lie before us. Maintaining a steady pace we successfully navigated the Ma-Ha-Tauk line back to the portal and escaped none the worse, neither richer nor poorer, to live another day.

My annual, first of the year hike. Got on trail a little after 5. Did this as a simple in and out. Tried to get some pictures of the moon as it was rising but it was playing "peek-a-boo" through the clouds so the pictures were not what I was hoping for. Trail was crowded! A lot of people enjoying the holidays on the trails

Short after work hike. Started from the Ma Ha Tauk TH and went counterclockwise. Ma Ha Tauk to Max Delta to T bone. Nice little loop. It is interesting how these trails have changed over the last 10 years. The T Bone has had the biggest and most recent facelift. Makes me wonder what these trails were like 20-30 years ago. As expected it was hot out there. Usually the breeze provides a nice cooling effect. Today it was just blowing hot air. It felt like I had a hair dryer blowing in my face. That being said, it's ALWAYS nice to get a few miles in.

Damn it was cold. And windy. And rainy. I swear it was warmer snowshoeing this weekend! I think Joe should rethink his aversion to snow hikes. This 48-degree windy rain crap is much less enjoyable--still beats hiking in 100 degrees though! No contest! Nonetheless, made it a pretty short loop. Got buzzed by a helicopter that took off from the park entrance and seemed to be verifying we were actually there on purpose. Probably a reasonable inquiry. Managed to avoid the extra few unplanned miles from the last trip!

Fun night hike. Rare Bob-sighting! Nice to meet rcorfman!

The snake-whisperer lead us to a feisty speckled. After I passed and it put a nice strike toward rcorfman, I was happy to have my gun so I could fire a warning shot. At Joe. It got him out of his cement shoes. Two feet, two inches, something was probably lost in the metric conversion.

Perfect weather and a nice break on the peak. The western parts of the park seem more remote.

Joe was telling me how much he likes the lower part of the Alta Trail, so we decided to check it out. It's nice, but probably more scenic during the day.

I'm a somo novice. Joe basically grew up here. Linda hikes here 9 times a week. Neither was any help when I led everybody astray. Three times. Nonetheless I take full responsibility.

Some of the extras messed with the schedule and the DQ was closed.

Overall a pretty good Wednesday on the mountain.

Only had time for a quick one today, I had to make it home to go to the science fair at my daughter's school. I thought I would revisit this hike, good combo of elevation gain and solitude to meet my needs. Pulled in to the 19th avenue parking lot about 3:30 and was the only vehicle there. Made good time around and did the CCW loop. I saw a grand total of three other people while out there, just about perfect. Finished up a fantastic weather hike right before the wind kicked up, and then had a solid 45 minutes trying to chug up the I-17 to the school. Good times!

Wildflowers
Most things are done blooming out here right now, but the Ironwoods are giving a great show still.

I needed a hike. HAZ site was saying I had hiked 57% of the trails in SM. So I figured it was time to try out some of the missing trails. Mike was also up for a hike, so we met at the 19th Ave TH at 6:30am. Headed out the Ma Ha Tuak trail, then onto the Derby Loop, on to the Los Lomitas, even threw in the Judith Tunell, over to the Max Delta and finally the T-Bone back to the TH. The 7 miles was interesting, but I needed some elevation which is missing from most of these trails.

So seeing as the Warrior was right there... Mike said he had somethings to do, so he took off. Man that Warrior is a butt kicker, especially after 7 miles of other trails. It took almost exactly 2 hours to hike the 7 miles. The Warrior took me 10 minutes less than 2 hours just to do the 1.5 miles to the Alta and back. But it's done.

No other people on the trails, at least seen by us. We saw several cotton tails, quail and a few Jacks. But my high point is after several hundred miles of hiking in SM I saw a fox today. Looked up just to see him running beside the trail and a leap over the edge. This guy had very red fur, including a full furry red tail. Really surprised me.

Almost no wildflowers.

Got in a nice Sunday morning hike with our little horse (or German Mastiff mix) down at South Mountain. Started off with the solid chug up the Warrior trail to Star Peak, good stuff. I had plans of hitting Maricopa as well, but my dog was pretty tired out by the top, so I thought an easier loop was in order. I connected back up with the Alta trail, and took the switchbacks down to the valley and the Bajada trail. I found a nice stand of Bursera microphylla, our native Elephant tree. There were a few really large individuals, cool to see so many in one spot. We then followed this around to Max Delta, and then on to Ma Ha Tauk for the return trip. Did not see that many people out despite it being a weekend, and the weather was fantastic. Good loop, well worth doing again.

Three days in and I'm already behind on my trip logs . I was hoping to do this on Friday, but work said otherwise. The first hike of the year is always Ma Ha Tauk. This is where my hiking mania all started years ago. I got on the trail a little after 7am and actually did a loop clockwise, starting on the T Bone Trail, then Max Delta to the Bajada and then back on the Max Delta to the Ma Ha Tauk and the Ma Ha Tauk back to the car. Started my hiking on these trails almost ten years and it is surprising to see how these trails have changed over the years. The Ma Ha Tauk is still pretty much the same route but over the years they have taken some of the "character" out. The climb to the overlook has gotten much smoother and most of the loose rock that would challenge a hikers footing has been removed. The Max Delta has changed too much since I started, but the T Bone just got a major face lift as it goes by the Ramadas. The trail here, has been smoothed out as well, and the trail has been redirected to wrap around the south side of the ramadas. I think this was done in large part to remove hikers from potential shooting range accidents. (There is a police shooting range just below where the T Bone use to be aligned). Weather was nice, though windy. This was not a bad thing because it helped to clear the air. Surprisingly didn't see many people, though I did see a few as I came down the Ma Ha Tauk.

First time hiking from the 19th Ave trail head which meant a few new trails. We started out on the steep, get the blood flowing, Warrior trail, then traversed the ridge line on Alta, picked up National, down Ranger, used Derby Loop as a connector, then brought it home via Ma Ha Tuak. Sweet loop, saw very few, and stayed dry.