The Best Hikes of White Tank Mountains Hikes

 Another perfect hiking day in AZ, temp in the mid 50s, breezy and sunny. My daughter, Amy, and I hiked clockwise around the 8.5 mi loop. The Mesquite trail is well maintained and marked. The trail starts up pretty quickly after leaving the parking lot (at Ramada 7) and after climbing 1600’ in about 4 mi you reach the highest point on the trail. From that point it was mostly downhill on a portion of the Ford Canyon trail then Willow Canyon trail. Both the Ford Canyon and Willow Canyon trails are pretty rocky and not as well maintained as the Mesquite trail. The hike took about 3 hr 50 min, which included a 20 min lunch stop.

 Adding to my list of all-time uniques, I made my first ever visit to White Tank Mountain Regional Park (the west side's very own South Mountain! )

Quite a bit of diverse stuff out here, from very intriguing canyons to large swaths of drab boredom. I made good time which allowed me to hit up the Waterfall trail before the "no excuses" entrance gate closure at exactly 8pm. I feel that darkness is an excellent time to see this desert spectacle, especially when in it's naturally dry state.

Got to see all the 2018 wildflowers. Pretty sure it's prime peak right now.

I was pleasantly surprised on this trip, and it seems to have earned a return visit sometime.

Wildflowers
* "substantial" as measured relative to the 2018 spring wildflower season.
Compared to a normal season somewhere between "none" and "isolated" ;)

 Early morning run. Started from the Ford/Mesquite TH. I prefer starting from this TH because it gives me a chance to get a running start for that initial climb on the Mesquite . I have found that it is more difficult for me to do this run from the Waddell parking lot; you're climbing almost as soon as you hit the trail. Plus by starting at the Ford parking lot I get a few more miles. Managed to jog the whole thing. Went CCW went I came to the loop section of the hike. The Willow Trail is nice for jogging, but the back end to the Ford and then the Ford to the Mesquite is rocky and has some big "steps" which act as natural speed bumps. Saw two groups going in and about 8 on the return trip for a total of 30 hikers/bikers. I was fortunate enough to see a deer on this jog. I typically keep my head down when jogging uphill (very demoralizing otherwise) and just happened to look up at the right to catch sight of a lone deer, near Willow Springs. Weather was great....again. Made for an enjoyable run.

  JJ is a hiking machine! Joe is an eating machine! Enjoyed the company of both of them this afternoon! Lunch with Joe then a fast hike with JJ. Trail in great shape. I've been on these trails but I guess not in this order. Another one checked off the 100 hike book . Thanks for the lunch, boys. Thanks for the hike, JJ. Like HAZ, you both rock!

 After having some lunch with Joe, Denny and I went out to the White Tanks to complete this loop. It is in the 100 Classic Hikes in Arizona Book by Scott Warren and Denny is checking them off. We had great weather and the trail was in perfect shape.

I set a goal of doing the loop in 2 hours and 30 minutes. We beat the goal.

 Got on the trail right at 6am. Started from the middle of the Bajada, where the Bajada crosses the road (by the bathrooms). Going CCW, this was an ideal starting place for this loop. First, I saw a couple of deer about 50 yards from where I parked. I'm not used to being rewarded so quickly . Secondly, the first .5 miles is flat or even slightly downhill which is a nice way to start when you are trying to get your jogging feet under, which I always am and seems harder to do all the time. Then I tackled "Mule Deer Hill" with its minor elevation is a nice precursor to Mesquite Trail. Happy to say I was able to make to Goat Camp jogging. That climb always takes it out of me, but I was able to jog another mile or so before the tank went empty. Got startled by hikers twice coming down the trail. When I'm jogging uphill I tend to keep my head down (so as not to become discouraged) and twice I came upon hikers without realizing they were there. Almost fell into a cactus the second time. Really like the back section of Goat Camp, it offers some nice views to the north and west AND its relatively flat. Nice to jog on if you have any gas I left in the tank. The Goat Camp was badly eroded around mile marker 3. The last climb just before you turn to the Radio Summit was destroyed! Feet had a rough day today. I had 4 stubs, and 3 trips, but luckily no falls...but my toes . Saw about 20 hikers all told, a little over half of them before reaching the Goat Camp. Wildlife was cool. Besides the deer, saw chipmunks, a rabbit, squirrel, a hawk of some kind and my first centipede! Though it looked as if the poor guy was on his last leg. He was inert,in the middle of the trail when I came across him.

 One last hike "out west" end of the big city.

Saw course little deer gals and four javelina...Surprised they were out and about it's chilly down here but today was gorgeous!!

Tried my hand at some bouldering off BG summit that didn't last long because I got chilled in the shade.

How I'll survive up north next week I have no idea haha

 Still trying to get back into hiking shape. Dragged another guy from work up with me today. Pretty straight forward, went up Goat Camp but because it's been a while I thought we needed to turn off earlier. Ended up on a game trail that led nowhere but back to the main trail. Went up another quarter mile and found the right turn off.

First time ever chased off the summit. Workers were installing a new tower and it looked like a giant erector set up on the top. So couldn't sign the peak register. But the workers were very cool about it and escorted us back to the trail.

 Another gorgeous day in the White Tank Mountains. Last week I did Ford Canyon down Willows so today it was Goat Camp down Mesquite. And of course I did both hikes from the exact same parking spot.

I met a few hikers early on but they all had the same plan of turning around before ascending the mountain. So the mountain belonged to Rowdy and me yes me. At about the 6 mile point we stopped and had lunch. I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and Rowdy had a roasted chicken breast boneless by the way.

After lunch we continued on our way. Heading down Mesquite we got to see more Mule deer than we had seen last week.
It was a beautiful day out and nice and peaceful.

 Returned to hike the Verrado trail for a three-fold reason. First, I hadn't taken credit for hiking Verrado this year. Second, I wanted to finish hiking the wash that leads up to the petroglyph. Third I wanted to revisit some developing trails that were a work in progress back in 2014. Got on the trail a little after 10am. Headed CW on the Verrado but quickly abandoned it in favor of the wash. I had been hiking the wash a couple of days ago with family but abandoned it when we hit the dry falls. So I took the wash and the two dry falls up to the petroglyphs. From the petroglyph I followed the trail north and then east. As I headed east the trail split a couple of times and I stayed on the northern edge because I was anxious to see if there had been any progression with the trails that were under construction back in 2014. I'm happy to say that there is now a nice loop that heads back into the valley north of the wash. It looks like the trails are done but there is still minimal trail signage back there. I stayed on what seemed to be the outer trail though it looked as if there was an interior trail as well. I did see one sign which indicated that I was on the Highline Trail. It was in an odd spot, what I would consider to be the backside of the trail. This makes think that there are more trail signs to come. Then again, Verrado has always had poor signage, so maybe they'll continue with this tradition. Forgot my garmin today so I'll have to come back to gather proper data. Mileage is an estimate based on time spent on the trails. Trails were fairly crowded. Saw 6 bikers on the new trail additions. Wildlife included a red tail hawk, a couple of chipmunks and a garter snake.