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| Hiking | 10.35 Miles |
782 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.35 Miles | 3 Hrs 32 Mns | | 2.93 mph |
| 782 ft AEG | | | | |
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| Partners |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Rather than drive the hell that is rush hour I-17 and I-10, I took the long way around to Goodyear on the Loop 101. It was still pitch black when I arrived at the Waffle House on Dysart Rd. at 6:45 a.m. Which was closed. What the hell? Thankfully, there was an IHOP across the street.
Properly fortified with hash browns and coffee, and the low winter sun having risen, I started hiking from the horse lot at 8:15 a.m. If you park on the west side of the lot, under the rodeo arena bleachers there is an actual bathroom with flushing toilets & running water. And it was clean! 
Today, I hiked the Toothaker / Gadsden / Butterfield loop counter-clockwise — only 770 AEG in 10 rolling miles.
Other than a steady stream of small planes overhead, I only saw one person (a mountain biker) all day, and he on Toothaker Trail.
There has been some rerouting along Toothaker Trail, as it heads southwest along the east flank of Hill 1536. The no longer active trail is blocked off by brush and signed “Route Closed” and “Stay On Trails”. Such signs are common in Estrella Mountain Regional Park. 
On the "climb" to Toothaker's saddle, I was back in shadow, and could feel the temperature difference. I caught a nice sunburst at the top of the climb.
Past the saddle, Toothaker descends 130 easy feet in a mile to Gadsden Trail. I hike the mile of Gadsden between Toothaker and Butterfield Trail, or at least part of it, every time I’ve visited Estrella Mountain Regional Park. That segment of Gadsden is the backbone which ties the park’s longer loops together. 
What I haven’t recently hiked is the 3¾ miles of Gadsden Trail east of Butterfield Trail. Eleven years ago, I described Gadsden like this:
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Head east, in the wash, for the next two miles. It's a deep wash, sometimes very narrow, always with a deep, sandy bottom. Very slow going. Keep an eye out for trail signs hanging from palo verdes and cottonwoods. [ popup triplog ]
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On a 10-mile loop, I was not looking forward to trudging through two miles of sand. Luckily, extensive rerouting has been done on Gadsden Trail, moving it out of the wash bottom, and along shelves or the wash rim. Other than a few wash crossings, Gadsden is now a fast, rolling, MTB track.
At one of the Gadsden Trail wash crossings, I found a large, flat, sitting rock. It was so nice, I took a 15-minute lunch break and marked it on the GPS route attached above.
From the sitting rock, Gadsden Trail descends towards a small knoll on which I thought I saw the ruins of a ranch house: [ photo ] .
The end of Gadsden Trail intersects Butterfield Trail at the base of Knobb Hill. Butterfield is mellow, wide, smooth and downhill ¾ mile to where it crosses the road otherwise known as Coldwater Trail. A ¼ mile later, Butterfield rejoins Toothaker Trail. From there, it’s just a couple of minutes back to the horse lot.
Hike Video: https://vimeo.com/663924269 |
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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Route Editor
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