Quartz Trail - MSP Photoset • FLYING_FLIVER • 2013-01-17 • HikeArizona.COM

Quartz Trail - MSP, AZ

	2013-01-17
	14 by FLYING_FLIVER

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Quartz Trail - MSP

Phoenix, AZ

Quartz Trail - MSP

Phoenix, AZ

Hiking	8.60 Miles	1,447 AEG

Hiking	8.60 Miles	4 Hrs 1 Min		2.82 mph
	1,447 ft AEG	58 Mns Break	18 LBS Pack

Linked

linked

Lost Dog Wash to Taliesin Overlook

Partners

none

no partners

This was a nice little out-and-back stroll on a "close-to-town" trail.
It's one of only a few trails I hadn't been on in Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve. We started at Lost Dog Wash TH at 124th St and proceeded to the Quartz trail.

Ironically, the Quartz trail moves out of McDowell Sonoran Preserve land and proceeds onto Arizona State Trust Land. (The Trust Land sign is still there, but it's been uprooted and placed off the trail a bit). We have permits, so we continued up the trail, which stays in a wide wash.
Due to time constraints of my hiking mate, we turned around at the location of some well-placed and majestic looking cairns in the wash. It appeared the cairns were indicating an off-trail route, as the official Quartz trail continues up the wash.

We also hiked up a steep trail spur to a quartz outcropping. That white quartz is in definite color contrast to the normal colors we expect in our Arizona rocks.

We saw some mule deer on our hike back that appeared to be a family of four. They stared at us & we stared at them. Photos are poor due to zoom & distance, but it was good to see healthy deer in the Preserve.

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Mule Deer

Geology

Geology [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Quartz

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Cairn

Named place

Named place [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Camelback Mountain Thompson Peak

_____________________

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN

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