Hike #26 - McDowell Mountain Regional Park - Dixie Mine Fountain Hills AZ

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Hike #25 - Sonoran Preserve Apache Wash - Ocotillo/Ridgerunner Phoenix AZ

Hike #25

Date: March 22, 2014 

Location: Phoenix AZ

Hikers: Tina, Oz & Me 

Directions:  
101 to Cave Creek Road.  Travel North on Cave Creek Road.  Go past Pinnacle Peak Parkway and the next left is E Sonoran Desert Drive.  Follow for 1/4 mile and trailhead on your right.  No Water. Restrooms Available.

Sonoran Preserve - Apache Wash Trailhead

http://phoenix.gov/parks/trails/locations/sonoran/index.html
or    http://phoenix.gov/webcms/groups/internet/@inter/@dept/@parks/documents/web_content/095100.pdf

Staying close to home and heading back to the North side of the Sonoran Preserve.  This hike we are going to head to the West and hit two summits on a 5+ mile hike.

Todays hike is Ocotillo to Ridgeback to Sidewinder to Apache Vista to Sidewinder. Hopefully the large group at the beginning of the trailhead is going in the opposite direction.   

There were tons of ballons starting up and going up at we pulled in the parking lot. There were probably 25 balloons this morning vs the normal 10. Either there is a some kind of festival (which I doubt) or Tourism is on the way up! The little dots are just two balloons that are to the south. 

 If you look at this picture closely all the dots are balloons. There are about 18 in this one spot.  These are over Dixie Mountain the hike I did last week.

 We hit Ocotillo and started a slight climb up.  It was a beautiful morning.  Felt a little cool but you can tell it will warm up soon.  We hit the Ridgeback trail and took a right heading up the hill on the switchbacks.  We only passed a few people coming at us.
There were balloons every where. These two were on the north side and we could see and hear them drifting by.  We pretty much take these for granted.

Ridgeback headed up the hill.  We were moving at a good clip to get our cardio in.  Tina and I talked about how good we have been doing going to the gym and need to kick up the cardio.  Well we were doing it going up fast. We went up the summit and it picked the trail back up on the north side.

 It was a nice place to stop and give OZ some water. From the top we could see water in one spot.  Not sure if it is part of the canal system or what it is.  With very little water in AZ right now something is feeding it.

 Our two balloons were moving quickly to the west.  We did not see them anymore as we headed down the summit.

 We picked up the Sidewinder at the end of Ridgeback.  We took Sidewinder to the right heading East.  You could take Sidewinder and it would be a long hike.  This is where we met up with a lot of bikers.  They were everywhere and very few have Bell.  I joke but I am going to start selling Bells at trailheads.  Bikers think that Hikers can hear them or know they are behind us. Well we can't hear them.  The guys that use bells are awesome.  Sounds goofy but they ring it and we move over.  SO BUY A BELL Dingdongs! Now horses are a different topic.  They are awesome when they pass.

 We passed that large group of hikers. They were taking pictures of the wildflowers.  I think we have one to two more weeks before the blooms are out.  We hit the Apache Vista and headed up.  It is .5 up and back to pick the sidewinder back up.  It was very pretty and a little bit of an incline.  The loop at the top was nice.  There was one biker up there. It is steep for him.

After we made it back to Sidewinder we headed back to the trailhead. We hit quite a few bikers again and people.  I think because we start at 7:30 am now and taking longer hikes by the time we are done there are more people out.  We like the road less traveled. 

We almost hiked 6 miles and hit two summits.  It was a good hike.  Time spent letting bikers pass.  This hike was almost 1:50 minutes.  

Hike #25 Done!  Check it Off. 

I am 1/2 way through! Yeah. 

Tomorrow we are hiking old faithful Shaw Butte. Can't count this one because we have done it about 100 times. We are not doing a new hike because we are going to Peruvian Food Brunch.  

Shaw Butte = http://phoenix.gov/parks/trails/locations/north/

El Chullo Peruvian = http://www.elchulloperu.com

My favorite GRINGO & INCA