I know why they call it sidewinder trail to get to the vista. Eeeek snakes I saw 2 the first I have seen since living here. Checking this hike off list for the phx5 challenge in Nov. Lots of mountain bikes on the trail this morning but lovely morning with the launch of the balloons. well traveled trail.

The chance of precip was too high up north so back to Plan B, get up early and hike locally. I am still in prep mode for my Glacier Park backpack in a few weeks. Kelly came up with this route. A very nice alternative to Shaw Butte and same amount of drive time. Note to self, for monsoon weather hiking you are just going to have to get up at 5 (I did 5:30 AM today).

I was grateful for cloud cover and the occasional breeze from time to time. I did pull out my umbrella for the last mile though. I heard some coyotes and the cicadas were out as I came off of Ridgeback Overlook where I had stopped to edit some photos and do a FB post. There were a few others on the trail including several bike riders and other hikers and a couple runners that were glistening. Yep, the humidity was a little intense. The trail was in real nice shape.

This is my first monsoon hike of any substance and I lived to tell about it.
Oh, this is the first time that I can remember not putting ice in my water... prefer the ice.

Video - [ youtube video ] including Cicadas.

Nice 6 mile loop this morning out of Apache Wash Trailhead. One of the news channels mentioned fog in the valley this morning and I had good luck with fog between the ranges up here before. Unfortunately, that would not be the case today. None the less, still an excellent way to start the day. Too many people with misbehaving dogs today though. Almost got caught in a dog fight, twice!

Also, I took this opportunity to run Route Scout on my phone vs my Garmin GPS60 back to back and note the differences. My phone logged 5.71 miles and 941' AEG, the Garmin came up with 5.93 miles and 836' AEG. The extra AEG on the phone must be from repeatedly lifting from my pocket to my face to read all those super important emails and text messages

Well I got my new inserts today and decided to try them out. The trails weren't to busy today and the weather was perfect.
It was nice to get in a little longer hike and seeing so much more green than I am used to seeing.
I did see a few more birds as well.
My new inserts will take a little getting used to as my doctor found my left leg is almost a half inch shorter than my right leg. Now I am waiting for my new brace to go with it.

Today was all about Rowdy and the weather was as perfect as Rowdy could have asked for. We had cloudy skies all day with nice temperatures. We even got sprinkled on three different times. Now we never really got wet but we did get refreshed all three times who could ask for anything more.
We were taking a nice lunch break the first time it sprinkled on us and we did not move we just enjoyed it as we finished our lunch. The trails were really quiet today seen only one hiker and a couple of bike riders that was it. As far as wildlife birds only.
This was the hike that put Rowdy over 2000 miles for the year and it was perfect. This is really a nice hike for dogs.

Just time for a quick one in town today, so I thought I would try out some new trail. The trails out here are all really well manicured, but I think this must be a much better area for biking than hiking especially judging by who I found out on the trail. I made my way up the Apache Vista trail, cut around over to the Ridgeback Overlook, and then back to Apache Vista for one more up to try and squeeze as much elevation gain as I could for the hike. Hard to imagine these two 'peaks' were included in this year's version of the Phoenix Seven Summit Challenge, I feel like I would have gotten more effort out of the Hedgepeth Hills...I managed to keep a 3.7 mph+ pace even on the uphill sections without running at all. There are at least some nice views of the real mountains up in Cave Creek from here.

The first 5 1/4 miles was awesome as it was cloudy a sweet breeze and it sprinkled lightly and we really never got wet. We took a nice little break under the bridge and when we got up and started again it was clear skies.
It did not take long to warm up as there was really no shade for the next three miles and Rowdy needs his shade.
Tomorrows hike should be sweet as we head to the Mogollon Rim.

Well another nice for a hike. Took Rowdy out to Apache Wash for a nice relaxing hike and it was. We did get some light sprinkles for about an hour which we both enjoyed.
Along the way Rowdy spotted a coyote following us and it followed us for a couple of miles. So I put Rowdy on his leash as I have seen coyotes out here in packs. So I made sure that there was no way to separate us. This coyote was also molting which is another sign of summer.
Just a really nice cloudy day with a cool breeze for a fun little hike.

And Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there.

Well I spent most of the day at the Mayo Clinic but did have a nice lunch at Bourbon Jacks Bar and Grill.
I made it home in time to take Rowdy out for a hike. The trailhead was a pretty busy for a work day. The weather was just awesome for a afternoon hike and Rowdy was a happy camper.

couldn't decide what to do today and i'm not sure how this area caught my eye while browsing haz this morning
didn't take long to drive up to the apache wash trailhead
took a look at the map, and had to take a photo of the map as there were no printed ones
got going around ten, giving me roughly three hours to hike in order to make the cardinals kickoff
took sidewinder to apache vista trail
back along sidewinder to ridgeback trail, and up to ridgeback overlook
the little loops at the top of both high points are a nice touch
down ridgeback to ocotillo and back to the trailhead
this loop wasn't long enough, so figured out i had time to do all of apache wash
little elevation change on the loop, but pleasant hiking through the vegetation along the wash
can't say as i'd do it again, unless mountain biking or trail running, but glad i experienced the whole loop
the first part of the hike had decent aeg and some good views from the overlooks and i would recommend this combo
plenty of mountain bikers, horseback riders and hikers out, but long stretches without anyone else
enjoyed seeing this part of the sonoran preserve and doing something new
would come back to hike the trails i missed
back home just in time for kickoff
go cards!