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| Hiking | 3.67 Miles |
1,409 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.67 Miles | 2 Hrs 54 Mns | | 1.71 mph |
| 1,409 ft AEG | 45 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | A 3-day weekend often means I get the chance to hike with Kelly on Monday and so was the case today. She insisted I needed to finish off the McDowell Peaks by hiking up East End. It seemed like a reasonable conquest to me. My niece Mia wanted to hike so I let Kelly know and she said it was fine.
It has been nearly 3 years ago to the day that I had been at the Tom’s Thumb TH; back when you still had to take a dirt road to hopefully find the TH. Wow, they did a great job with the now paved road; the roller coaster section is pretty cool.
We actually ended up putting on our jackets and didn’t take them off until after coming down from East End Peak. I had remembered that the climb up Tom’s Thumb Trail was steep but I forgot how long  a steep mile can be sometimes. And then when you almost top out, you climb a little more again. Kelly gave us a couple catch up breaks and minute breathers and photo ops before we finally made it to what the hike description calls, “the insertion point”.
And so up and up  we go…. Not bad really. The trail seemed pretty easy to follow. There was one little drainage you jump over and another I chose to go around (I was filming). Before you know it you’re at the saddle with your first views way out yonder  like toward the Four Peaks. When you’re there, you’re almost done but you do have to manage the toughest part of the up. However, it’s short and sweet.
Once you’re there, you head east for the climb up to the very highest point. Kelly promptly grabbed the ammo container and started flipping thru the log. She mentioned John9L and others and I said I wanted to take a picture of the log page. I like to take pictures of the names of our compadres in the logs. Not more than a few minutes later I look over and there’s John  on the approach. Imagine that; especially after reading his name on the log. I’m sure Mia was a bit astonished that we would meet someone we know clear the  up here.
I offered up some Tibber snacks (Costco granola), took his pic for FB and HAZ, John signed in and then headed off as he had a lot of hiking to get done by noon….just like that, he vanished into thin air it seemed. We took the last of our pictures and ate a few more snacks before our journey down. It was when we came down from the perch that I realized I was looking DOWN on Tom’s Thumb  . Kelly told me I would be but I almost forgot to take that scene in.
I armed Mia and me with a pole for the slippery journey down and it was. Gosh, that’s not fun. One time I went to move forward but I got my knee wedged between a couple rocks. I obviously figured out quickly how to un-wedge it but it made us laugh pretty good  . It seems like it took us forever to get back to Tom’s Thumb Trail. I think I got some decent video of the two of them walking gingerly to avoid falling. I did hit the dirt once on my rump but I bounced quickly up.
Once we were back at the real trail we finally took off our jackets. It was like we hit the freeway at rush hour. OMG, way too many people, even for me. Well we decided to try out the HAZ poll about saying hello. Almost everyone greeted us back except one ole bitty. So making the best of a crowded situation the whole rest of the way, we found other people's attire and mannerisms worthy of light-hearted commentary between us. The trail didn't seem too slippery on the way down.
We made our restroom stops before heading on to the Marcus Landslide Trail for our twofer. Thanks Kelly for taking us up there. It is a really neat place! and yep, I'd do it again but not right away  .
Video 1 of 2: up to East End and back to East End saddle http://youtu.be/It-fEIbjBw8
Video 2 of 2: East End Saddle and down to Tom's Thumb Trail http://youtu.be/f6HqGsNGm3I |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
