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| Hiking | 8.69 Miles |
1,247 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.69 Miles | 4 Hrs 17 Mns | | 2.35 mph |
| 1,247 ft AEG | 35 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Since Deborah was in town, I wanted to continue a new tradition we started last year (San Tans) which was to do a hike together, and Duke too. Since last year I've wanted to give this trail system a spin... well not a spin on a bike but in my hiking shoes. Linda was game and she let me pick the start time of 9AM. Kelly was going to join us but her plane was late. Kelly would have liked this hike plus I wanted her to hook up with my friend Debbie since they have running in common.
Finding a parking area was a bit of a challenge so I PMed @adenium (thank you) and he gave us four possibilities so we picked the one just to the east of Granite Reef Rec area. There were quite a few cars at this lot and we encountered this group fairly early on during our hike. We would see another large group and then about half-dozen other hikers and about the same number of bike riders, so not bad. The tread was very nice and it proved to be a roller coaster hike which I like. We had a couple good hills mixed in.
The scenery was typical desert that teased us with several good views of Red Mountain  . We came upon an area with two roads and a blowout to the north that was a mystery that we eventually figured out was part of the canal system; exactly what part we're not positive about... The hike got particularly interesting, on the south side, after we got past the first row of very nice homes and headed east and then north and then east back down by another set of houses before making the final turn north. The rockery and steeper mountains to our east were impressive. Linda labeled our hike description appropriately as the trail really starts some serious meandering from area to area.
The trail erosion efforts were interesting; something I've not seen before. I'll post a picture.
We stopped for a little break before finishing off the last 1/2 or so of the hike. From here we encountered some steeper parts of the hike going down into the narrow wash as the trail was a little slippery from the loose granite. We checked out a wounded saguaro and a couple very green, very little plants. We saw some cool rock formations and Red Mountain would pop up into view here and there.
As we finished off the last leg that took you up to a saddle and side of a mountain we were treated to good views of the river and then were rewarded with a mine area on the Mineshaft Trail. The quartz in this area was very pretty. And fortunately, Linda's curiosity struck again as we went to the top of the hill above the mine and got a spectacular treat with some great 360 views. It was a clear day in almost every direction too. You get a couple long switchbacks to get you down the mountain with just a couple slippery areas. The views to the river kept us entertained too .
We enjoyed our Huckleberry Wheat Lager before going our separate ways. It was nippy and windy in the morning to start and in less then a couple miles later it warmed enough to take off my jacket. It was nice for the rest of the hike with only a slight breeze as we did the interior and then got windy again once we got to the north high part of the hike.
WATCH: 8.5 miles with a starting temp of 47.7 and 40% humidity (high point 1876, low point 1257) Avg bpm 127, max 167 with 33% at zone 3, 52% at zone 2 and 12% at zone 1 burning 1604 calories finishing at 1:15PM |
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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
Route 
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. I know it's designed more for the bikers and that's why it's like that. I would rather that they extend the Bush Lite Trail further west down by the highway so you can complete a loop between the two sides of this trail system without having to deal with this trail. 
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