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| Hiking | 3.50 Miles |
700 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.50 Miles | 2 Hrs 27 Mns | | 1.43 mph |
| 700 ft AEG | | | | |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Distance/AEG is a guess. Took my new hat out for a stroll after work. And, yes, it's a long report for a short hike but for the second time in a row, I had a little drama and Todd loves drama.
I had to park down the hill but no big deal other than I had to approach my selected route from a different angle. It was nice to have to walk up the hills as once again, I fear my already lack of elevation prowess is very rusty. It was going to be a very busy trail today. The Brittlebush was brilliant and it appears our baby Brittlebush have all blossomed even if they’re a little smaller in stature. The hillsides were bathed in golden yellow, so pretty.
I wrapped around the east side of the mountain and decided to head down to hook up with Joe’s new hike guide, the Lookout Connector. I only took a small piece of it before rejoining the main trail. Continued to encounter hikers about every five minutes and Route Scout proceeded to act up for most of the rest of the trip. Of course, I had the radio going and was using the camera so I fear it was just too much for Kemosabe.
I worked my way around the south side continuing to be exposed to the brilliant Brittlebush. It was truly stunning; I think mostly because the light was slightly filtered with the light clouds dancing around in the sky. I also noticed that I could see that side hill trail that goes up Shaw Butte; have never noticed that before.
I made my way around the western humps and met a new young dog and her owner. I visited with them for a moment. I think the young dog thot I was a bear despite my assurances  . As I rounded the north end, I encountered a couple with a man holding a baby in front of him freestyle.
Today instead of heading back to the TH I decided to hike the east side of the western humps as it has a nice little incline. This is when Kemosabe totally gave up the ghost so I was on my own, no Route Scout, no pictures. There were a couple fellas climbing/belaying the middle hump of Lookout. I could hear them clearly as I made my way to the Summit Trail which I had decided to climb to the Saddle.
Along the summit trail I encountered some female hikers that were going up an area that had little rock barriers across and I tried to educate them nicely that the rocks were there to keep them from using those old use trails. She was a bit snotty about it and asked if I was a ranger and how long had I been hiking there. I tried to politely explain and then continued on my way to the saddle.
The trail was busy coming and going. Once back down to the areas where the rock barriers were disintegrating, I decided I would try to build them up. I had time to kill as I had gotten an early start. So I spent an hour on it  . During that time one couple proceeded to step over one of the barriers I had just finished and I told him not to do that and why. At the time I was trying to move a big rock in another section and the female came over and offered to help as she thot the three of us could move it but it was just too heavy.
A few other couples went by and thanked me and mentioned the other hikers that just don’t understand or don’t care about where they hike. But then that first gal came by and ridiculed me and told me she would speak to the ranger and the ranger would tell me I didn’t need to re-build those rock barriers. That’s the second mom in the last two times that I’ve been up there that’s been so rude.
Every time I would think I was done I would see another area that needed work and then I stood there for a few minutes to see how the hikers treated it. One guy just stepped right over the barriers and had no clue as did another hiker. I fear that was an hour wasted ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") . Part of the problem is with the flora that is so tall it kind of covers being able to see where that nice large curve is in the trail.
However, I am going to send an email to the Preserve caretakers and suggest they put some little signs up or they’re never going to get those areas refurbished; especially now. The areas they have put the little rock barriers are pretty steep and the trail is now a nice switchback that people can’t seem to stay on and it’s only a couple feet from these short three steep and narrow sections. I should have taken a picture. Oh well.
I had planned only a little over an hour on the trail and ended being there for over two. People were still coming in droves and it was around 5:15. Very scary to me! I understand, but still scary. I wonder if we can get Seniors hiking hours like they do in the grocery stores  |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
mostly brittlebush but I did see one barrel cactus with a little bloom |
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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 
. In all my times as using that as a starting point, I have never seen that many cars there! Part of the crowd are remote control car enthusiast. I have seen them there on the weekends several times with small cars tackling the rough terrain in nearby washes. Luckily there are a lot of trails out there so you can chose your own route and avoid some of the crowds. Which is what I did. I kind of threw together my own version of the Lookout Mountain Connector "south side." From the TH I took the Christiansen 100 trail through the 7th st tunnel to where the Lookout Connector starts. Followed this (for a short time really) until it came to the Thunderbird tunnel. In my opinion there is no point going past this point (unless your true goal is to hit Lookout Mountain) as it is almost all golf course and residence after this. Nearly lost an eye at the Thunderbird tunnel when I got distracted by a bevy of rabbits and ran into a low lying branch. After the tunnel (staying on the south side of it). I continued east following some very nice user trails that are worth visiting every once in awhile. On the south side of Thunderbird there is a hill that parellels this stretch of the road and there is basically a low, middle level and ridgeline trail that utilizes this hill. Today, I took the low lying user trail up to where it connects to the mid level trail and used this mid level trail as a turn around point and made my way west on it. All of this is on well established single track trails. The only rough section is a short cling from the low to the mid level trail. This section is rocky and eroded. This mid level trail got me back to the Lookout Connector which I used very briefly to connect back to the Christiansen. After that I used a couple of user trails and part of the Shaw Butte Loop trail to get back to the TH. Even with all the trail options, I still encountered close to 50 hikers, 19 bikers and 3 trail runners 
