Missed out on my Jordan Hot Springs backpack due to a flared bulging disk; haven't had that for at least 5 years (originated in 1998). Well after four days of non-activity and little improvement in the level of pain, I did a strength class last nite and while my back felt it, nothing extraordinary happened so I decided to get out on the trail.

I started from 38th St TH and headed west and up over the Happy Hour ridge area to Horseshoe VOAZ and over to 302 and then another Horseshoe #1A back over. I proceeded up a few more hills west and north and back around Happy Hour ridge to the TH. All trails were in good shape.
Quite a few hikers and bikers out; helped a few with directions but there were times when it was only me. And the usual discourse of un-leashed and leashed dogs; one leashed had a growl, I figure it didn't like what I was wearing or something, ha!

A nice morning with a reward of Q-Trip frozen cappuccino. My lower lumbar was fine. I seem to recall when this happened before it took a week to ten days for the pain to no longer be noticed. Oh and FYI, my knee has been fine for a few months now... just needed more time to heal.

Decided to hit the trails at Dreamy Draw Park Today; burn off some of the bird from yesterday. Lot of people out here today. Not a lot of solitude. This was more of an exploratory hike, since there are so many trails out here, it's easy to do something new every time. Probably my favorite on this side of Squaw Peak is the VOAZ Loop and Irregular Link trails.
I climbed up the hill behind the saddle off the Freedom Trail to take a break and get great views. Anyway, I'm looking for a safe route up the North Peak of Squaw, so I needed a good vantage point. Anybody ever summit that one? It's always piqued my interest. I mean I've done the summit trail many times and I'm looking for something new. I love hiking in Phoenix!

try to hike somewhere other than south mountain on sundays
failed to get a parking spot at 32nd & lincoln, so went to the 304 trailhead
nature circumference voaz 1A irregular link circ 1A yates quartz ridge ruth hamilton
the idea was to hit 1B and 1C, otherwise just random wandering around
not too busy on any of these
the only part i didn't care for was 1A near the freeway
cool to start, warming up nicely by the end
met my brother and his girlfriend for tots and wings after

I rounded up my niece for my Sunday hike, as to me it's still a little too warm to head out to the Supes... well unless I want to get up way before the crack of dawn.

I took Mia up to the Tibber Ridgeline via a new route (and there's still a different route to try yet of 3 possibilities); it's a heck of a climb but not bad for 445 feet in 1/2 mile. And then we headed west to the top of Tibber Ridgeline and over and down across to the VOAZ where we headed up again. This trail on the north side had some issues the last time I came down it but I didn't notice any trail issues on the way up (from the rain earlier this fall).

We headed down to the 304 and I took her contouring the side of the mountains over to 8 where we went around the front side of a couple little mountains and then thru the wash, east and then north. I got sick a little at the junction of the 8 (something about that junction) and then we powered up the little hill for the all down hill from here part.

In the past couple hikes I saw another trail that was in front of the mountain that the 8 goes around so we decided to check that out. It's kind of hard to spot as we almost walked by it. It takes you west and down thru a wash and then veers south but we were not happy with the heat so we took a short cut thru a deep wash and back out to another sort of trail and headed back to Tonto Jr.

It was fun to get caught up with my niece and to have company. I'm just not big on hiking alone as I just don't like spending that much time talking inside my head to myself. We would have hiked further but it did start to get a little warm and no breeze. Surprisingly, there weren't nearly as many folks and dogs and bike riders out on the trail as there was last Sunday.

This weekend, it's back to some Arizona Trail .

Today was the day I was going to finally be able to do my VOAZ Loop I had plotted in my head. So off I went via 100 over to the bike trail that would take me north. I could see on the hill between me and the 8 (to the SE) was a trail that went on the mountainside so I'm going to have to investigate that. I continued on the bike trail south (slightly different from the one I took a couple weeks ago) and then crossed over the wash to meet up with the 8. I kept on the 8 for awhile and could have went off the 8 to cross over earlier but stayed to the south where I met up with the 8 again (could have stayed on it). I eventually hooked up with the 304/302 up to the VOAZ junction. I have to say the breeze was sure lovely up until here. It was a very strange breeze for this time of year... it was COOL .

I hadn't taken the VOAZ this direction before so it was obviously a little easier once I got to the saddle and started heading down hill. The rain seems to have damaged part of this trail. Once down to 1A my goal was the green hill (a tinted color from the rock) and then up to my lately dubbed: Tibber's Happy Hour Ridgeline that I discovered last week but was too tired and hot to take on. As I was climbing to the Green Saddle I thot I could hear coyotes so I stopped a couple times to listen. And then a short time later HAZel gave me my mileage update with the sound of... yep, you guessed it, a coyote . Once on the ridgeline it has a couple steep sections and because of being out of shape I did have to stop and catch my breath plus the breeze had disappeared.

Once to the top of Fifteen Cent Peak I rested for a moment and noticed other people on what I had dubbed Twenty Cent Peak while looking at it from VOAZ. I had also seen a trail that seems to come up from the south side so I may have to give that a whirl one of these times. Anyway, I hadn't intended on ascending Twenty Cent Peak but after a slight rest, I looked over at it where some other people had just come down and decided, "what the heck" and give it a whirl as it wasn't that high and was still in partial shade.

Well Twenty Cent is a fun ascent. I walked around on top and thot I saw a path over to the NE so headed toward that. Well it wasn't a path and I wasn't in the mood to trek back up to the top of the peak. I surveyed the situation and decided it didn't look like I could cliff out anywhere so down I went. I crisscrossed for a bit and decided it would take way too long to get down this way so I tried to aim for straight down as much as I could. I crossed over to a rocky crag thinking there might be a trail out of that but nope so back I went and continued my trek down to a trail that crosses between these northern mounts.

Finally I reached the trail altho it was very rocky and headed south until I reached up with what looked like a normal trail and took that back to the 40th St TH. Saw about 5 little lizards, a dozen hikers and a dozen bikers. Oh, and I got a very close fly-by from a most beautiful hawk!

needed a longer training hike today
all of my hikes have been five or six miles lately, or less when doing a peak
haven't hiked from 32nd and lincoln trailhead in months
was a little surprised to get a parking spot at 7:20
quartz ridge to lv yates
met a gal who said she just got stung by a bee ("just one bee")
thought that was odd, so in looking around, saw quite a few bees swarming about in a wash - must bee a hive in the rocks
if you look at my track, you can see where i tiptoed around on the other side of the trail
then missed the cutoff to the peak 2429 trail, so continued down to trail 100
up to 2429, since i didn't hike camelback or piestewa this week
back down to 100, then a social trail up to 1A
made a loop of irregular link, the circumference trail and voaz, then 1A to 304
stopped at the drinking fountain to get a big drink and refill my water bottle
five minutes out of the way seems a fair trade to avoid being on the news
backtracked to 8B, which was slow, then easy back down 8A
nice hike, had fun, quite a few people out all morning
nothing new, but a new combination of some of my favorites
hit double digits for the first time in weeks
aeg seems high

Got in a nice Sunday morning hike before it got too hot. Started out from the 32nd street 'Trailhead' and made a trip over to 2429, then looped back around with the help of a few more of the local trails. The 6:30 a.m. start was a nice treat for me since I do almost all my hiking in the heat of the day, it wasn't even that bad out when we finished up. Saw many, many people out on the trail, even helped a lost mountain biker find his way back to his truck. Good times!

went out for a 6 mile hike thinking of the 8, 304, Irregular, VOAZ, back to TH. ended up doing:
8 from west side of TH but didn't see any signs for it as I hiked along so took various paths heading SE as I know where I needed to be and the current trail was not getting me there. It would be hard if you didn't know where you wanted to go and tried to figure it out while hiking from this side altho maybe it eventually took you on the 100 going east to the 8 turnoff.

Finally found the 8, that was an interesting way to get to it and unbeknownst to me at that time, the "nothing ventured, nothing gained" tour began. I continued up the 8 making good progress as I worried how much of my hiking mojo I lost due to travel. Down the other side I went before you turn west and down into a wash. It's always a little confusing when you get into the wash and instead of veering north I saw a trail coming south out of the wash so I took it thinking it veered back north... but it didn't. I consulted HAZel and decided, "what the heck" the worse I could end up is over by the Squaw Peak TH.

So I continued on my merry way (saw one bike rider and one hiker) having no idea if I was on a marked trail. I thot it would eventually take me around this mountain and maybe down the trail I had spotted from the other side. Eventually I ended up at a saddle and a trail marker that said 8A. Well how 'bout that. I think Joe had mentioned this trail recently, the old Quartz Ridge Trail. Always wanted to take that. Here at the saddle and on the way up 8B I ran into about a 1/2 dozen hikers. I hiked up the 8B to another saddle and then headed down the other side thinking I would be able to hook up with another trail I saw way below and head over to the 304.

Well 8B is a pretty long hill, it would be a good climb from the opposite side for sure and it seemed it went on and on. It was a bit slippery and steep in places. Finally I got to the bottom and guess where I was... the north end of the Squaw Peak TH where I had been a month or so ago and had to retreat from my circumference hike. I was a bit surprised but on I went taking the right turn at the 304 and headed north. You drop down into a deep wash and you have the option of heading west as you come out or up these rather large steps continuing north. I opted for the big steps and continued the climb up to the saddle where the junction of the 8 and 304 are. I think I recall doing the 8 to the 304 awhile ago.

On the way down the north side I took a path that led to the west rather than staying on the 304. After going further west than I thot, I eventually joined up with the 304 and up, up I went. Here was another test to see how being out of the hiking mode would effect me. Delightfully, I did pretty well; the trail didn't seem quite as steep or long as I anticipated. I sat for about two minutes on the bench at the top relishing my success before heading back down, over to the Irregular C and back up the VOAZ (love that trail). The VOAZ seemed MUCH longer than when I did it about a month ago.

Then back down the 304 to the 1a back to the TH but nope, I hit one of those darn horseshoe trails and tracked way further west than I wanted. I finally found a crossover trail that took me back toward the TH. It seems to have been an old road at one time. I eventually reached the 100 and stayed on it except to wander to take some saguaro pictures. I decided to take the connector trail (2429) back to the TH to make it more loopy. By the time all was said and done, instead of 6 miles, I did 8.4 with some respectable AEG and felt pretty good .

Not too many hikers and bikers on the trails this Mother's Day (felt weird when someone wished me a Happy Mother's Day as I'm not a mother...though my brothers think I am from time to time ). The temp in the high 70s with an occasional breeze was quite nice as were the puffy clouds scattered about. The trails were all in pretty good shape except that 8B was a bit slippery in sections. There's lots of miscellaneous unmarked trails out there one could venture out on just for something different.

Made my way to the Dreamy Draw lot for my first time this year, got in there about 4:30 in the afternoon to start my hiking fun. Headed CCW on the 1A and then took over to the 302. I was making good time so I hit up SP, made my way up with no breaks, but I did hang out up top for a few minutes to enjoy the somewhat hazy views. I am always fascinated by the dichotomy of the Summit trail, unwashed bodies there to work, and the overly perfumed there to be seen...Cruised down and then got back on the Freedom trail to the VOAZ. I cut back across to the Perl Charles, and then took a few of the unnamed trails to get me back to the lot. Saw many mountain bikers on the 1A today, but all were courteous at least. Perfect temps for an in town hike.

I drew up a route on Friday at work for my hiking day. I decided to try Karl's route: [ gps route ] with a little variation as I was coming from the 40th St TH. Initially I was going to do the Peak first but thot it was a tad too warm so I started c-clockwise instead following the east side of the wash. I should have taken a right as the wash ended but stayed on the trail to the 100. I got a little confused as by that time my route wasn't matching up (cuz I missed that right) so I continued on my merry way thinking I knew where to hook up with the VOAZ anyway.

I muddled west on the 100 looking for that trail that would take me up a tier. I finally got that (and boy has part of that washed out) and then continued west. I could see the VOAZ above me but where is the turn to get on it? and then I couldn't see the VOAZ anymore so thot maybe I miscalculated but figured I could find the Irregular and come around the backside to the junction and then hit it that way. But alas, the junction finally appeared and I made the u-turn onto the VOAZ. What a wonderful trail this is . I sure enjoyed it.

Came to the three trails junction and went down part of the Nature Trail and then back to where the other trails would have taken me and continued east to hook up with LV Yates. It seems they've done some trail work though the trails aren't well marked. There are some interpretive signs out here and I think it would be better served with a map and you are here. Nonetheless I meandered toward Trail 8 and checked RouteScout to make sure I was pretty much on track until I hit the 8. I liked this part too.

Still was debating with myself about giving the Peak a go. I came up over the hill heading north and felt good, the temp seems to have moderated so why not. I wasn't sure where the turn was and just as I thot I better check RouteScout, yep here it is. Wow, this isn't easy plus you can barely see a route. I would wander off a couple times and then find it again. Didn't realize how straight up it was but then again, this is Karl's route . There used to be an easier crossover route which I would find later so I will try that one next time (I waypointed it on my route).

I finally reached the trail to 2429 and barely hesitated to tackle it. The temp seems to have moderated so up I went. It's still a tough climb but I slowly continued up and made it to the saddle where I took the trail to the north and came up the peak from the back side. It at least gave me a break from all that climbing. Needless to say when I got to TwoBit's top I was pretty darned proud of myself. I've always wanted to to this peak at the end of my hike rather than the beginning and for once, I finally accomplished that task.

On the way down, a very young hiker that was half-way running up the peak told me to not think about it as he saw me trying to find footing coming down from the Peak. I thot to myself, "easy for you to say". And then of course he passed me on the way down and said something like, "you've got plenty of room" as he was passing on a wider section of the hike down. If he only knew how much I would like to be able to hike like him.

Anyway, it was a glorious day to be out and a pretty darn good hike for me; especially coming practically straight up that Peak (and I didn't take one break except to take the 360 video).
Here is a very short 1 minute video from the top: https://youtu.be/gp ... OK0M