I made it but it was a struggle. I think I ate too much at a luncheon I went to earlier. I wanted to turn around several times and did for a short bit until my argument with self was the loudest. I got out my poles and said "self, we'll just do this slowly". Every step seemed hard. I hate it when this happens but I'm glad I persevered. It's not like it's a difficult hike for gosh sakes .

It's been almost 5 years since I last did this trail from Gateway. Not sure why but the AEG seems a little high. I obviously have a love/hate relationship with this trail.

It was crowded out, lots of lizards too, windy and cold at the pass. Trail seemed rougher than normal. No flowers, just a few blooming hedgehogs. No wolfberries for sustenance.

Needed to stay in town. This is my go to area for in town, time crunched hikes.
Temps were nice to begin and a bit warm at the end for this cowboy.
Breezes kept it decent most of the day.

All the beautiful people were out today.
Saw a young couple with 2 toddlers in baby backpacks in 100 degree temps, 3 miles from the TH going up as I was going down.
Not sure how smart that was. But didn't see them on the news last night.

Route Scout was doing something wacky on the way up as it said I was at 3.89 mi at Inspiration Pt which can't be accurate since it's only 3.2 miles to the point from the VC. If you look at the track up, it's all over the place. So I'm not sure how accurate the 6.98 is but I'll take it I guess (I started from deep in the parking lot).

Anyway my goal was Windgate Pass. Oh well, still got most of it done. The lot was the fullest I've ever seen it and the trail sure had lots of people and bike riders but not as bad as the lot implied... after all, there are lots of trails out here. There wasn't a breeze, however, there was off and on shade. I forget how rocky this trail is and really how many ups and downs there are with about two longish hills.

One fellow I encountered said Denny was just up the trail a bit but he was off the hill to the right. I kept an eye out but no Denny. I continued on tackling those hills one foot at a time. I thot I had less to go than I did based on what Route Scout was telling me but the signs indicated otherwise. I decided after sitting a moment at Inspiration Point to head back because Route Scout said I was at 3.89 though I couldn't figure out how that could be. Anyway, I wasn't sure I had quite enough water to finish since I had another .9 to go to reach the Pass.

So I decided to head back and would try to pick up the pace to make up for not getting to the Pass. Also I wanted to see if I could find Denny but all I saw on the way back, besides other hikers, dogs and some bikers and a couple lizards was a shirt and a little camera case.

I was glad I turned around when I did because once I reached the Gateway Jct it started getting pretty warm altho there was a slight breeze. Anyway, it was a good hike altho the trail has taken a few hits in a couple places from the rain storms.

First hike of 2016. Brad took kids to the park. I left from our front door (awesomeness) and took Paradise to Gateway to Windgate Pass trail up to Inspiration point then back the way I came. Did Patrol and exercise. Helped one person get cholla ball out of their shoe. Busy as expected on Gateway.

It was a beautiful day for this hike. The weather was perfect and the trail were almost empty. When we reached Tom's Thumb we had it all to ourselves and I wasn't complaining. We did meet a couple that wanted to make a video of Rowdy and I said ok. It was a very interesting camera setup up.
The hike took longer than I had planned but I had no complaints. This hike put Rowdy over 1000 miles for the year and I decided to celebrate Rowdy's milestone. So I called my wife and told her to meet us at Juan Jamie's Taco's and Tequila. She said ok so Rowdy and I headed over. I started with a cold Pale Ale and Rowdy started with water and his favorite chicken.
I meet a couple from Baltimore and they really liked Rowdy. They told us their son was in the military and trained bomb sniffing dogs. They came over and petted Rowdy as did another couple. They were surprised at Rowdys mannerism. And of course I order Rowdy seconds on the chicken and he wolf it down.
It was a awesome day with Rowdy and I did learn I need to buy a real pair of hiking boots as my new pair is not going to cut it.

couldn't decide what to hike this morning
wanted something a bit longer with decent elevation gain, not on south mountain
decided on the windgate bell loop counterclockwise from gateway
saw bobp on the way up bell pass he was running down at the time
plenty of people out, given the relatively cool temps, low humidity and occasional cloud cover in july
had never been to inspiration point, so i stopped there for a minute
hit the saguaro loop on the way down as i hadn't been on that, either
two decent ascents on this loop, up to bell pass and windgate pass
very nice morning for a hike

Had a depressing morning getting my % body fat measured. Trying to get rid of 7 pounds that just seem permanent. I refuse to starve to get rid of them. Basically I overeat just a little bit about twice a week (usually around alcohol consumption) - - and I may have to accept the pounds so I can enjoy food/life.

Anyway. . . . I did this trail b/c it's great for intervals. Little jog then little walk. I generally can't stand Gateway Loop with all the traffic - but really no crowds after the turn for Gateway Saddle.

You look like an idiot doing intervals but no one's up on Windgate so I felt less self conscious.

Afternoon hike to see if I could catch the sunset on the way back. By sheer luck I hit it exactly on my return at Inspiration Point, where I sat for about 10 minutes snapping photos. Not the most amazing sunset I've seen (by our really high Arizona standards), but let's see how they come out.

For the first time, I night hiked without the need of a headlamp. I also amazed myself for getting up to the pass and back in 3 hours. It took me 4 hours a few months ago, and that was with leg muscles that started quivering with threats of collapse at any moment after about mile 5. Progress is good. Thanks, HAZ.

Went upto inspiration point. Came back down and went to gateway pass as there were very few people on that trail. Ended up behind a smoker as I got close to TH. Not much wildlife to photograph

Brought my girlfriend back here to hit Inspiration Point this time. Got to the trailhead around 9am and it was packed. Tons of people on the trail today. Way more than when I was here before sunset a couple weeks ago. The crowds thinned out a little once we got off the Gateway trail, but it was still pretty crowded. I think I'll only come back to these trails during an off time. We probably saw 100 people or more out there today. I've also never seen so many poop bags thrown on the side of the trail. Grrr.

Once you leave the Gateway trail the climbing is pretty steep. It was pretty warm out there again today and we really felt it. Inspiration Point was nice but not quite worth it as a destination. Next time I'll keep going up to Windgate Pass.