Hike #28 - Charles M Christiansen 100 Trail Phoenix AZ

Hike #28

Date: April 5, 2014 

Location: Phoenix AZ

Hikers: Me & Tina 

Directions:  
North Mountain Visitor Center: 7th Street South of Thunderbird Road.  Park in the Far South East end of the parking lot to pickup the trailhead. Water and Restrooms. 
End of hike = Tatum Blvd South of Shea Blvd. Look for car parking lot on West side of Tatum.  No water or restrooms. 

Charles M Christiansen Trail #100 - Phoenix Arizona : 

http://phoenix.gov/parks/trails/locations/north/hiking/ or
    North Mountain Visitor Center:http://www.northmountainvisitorcenter.org/maps/


We have done the Charles M Christiansen Trail from Tatum to North Mountain a couple years ago. It is approxiametly 10.7 miles + that cuts through the Phoenix Preserve. The true start of this trail is on 7th Ave and Cheryl Drive however today we are going to start at 7th Street and Thunderbird.  The end of the trail is at Tatum Blvd south of Shea Blvd. Our hike should be 9 miles.  This is not a loop and will require two cars to be dropped or use a phone a friend for pickup.

Who is this person who has a trail named after him?  In 1986 the trail was dedicated to Mr Christiansen a former director of Phoenix Parks and Rec who was instrumental in preserving the Phoenix preserve.

Tina and I have had this hike on our list since the first of the year. We wanted to get a long one in and doing it the opposite route gives us a new hike.  We took off from the trail as it goes under 7th street via a tunnel.  It was a beautiful morning.  The temperature was in the upper 50's and warmed up quickly.

The trail in the beginning is very well marked.  Look for the 100.

The Tunnels under the road are pretty cool.  They are dark and sometime "stinky".  

 There is a gate where the trail enters the property of The Pointe Hilton.  You can see the pool area to the south after you go through the gate.

We followed the trail up the hill on the east side of the Pointe at Tapatio.













There was a large group of hikers behind us.  They were gaining on us slightly. We headed up the hill at the trail marker and they went straight on the low flat route.

We met up with them again at the top of the hill as we headed down toward Cave Creek Road.  We noticed one guy had a mohawk.  I thought it was fake, Tina said it was real.  I took a picture after we passed them.


We were ahead of the large group but Tina and I don't like the pressure of people gaining on us.  Could say we are both control freaks?

We stopped on the other side of the Tunnel to de-rock our shoes.  That is when we headed up the hill and this group again took the low flat road. Big time Cheaters!

We crossed under Cave Creek Road and then headed up the hill.  This was a good heart pumper.  We saw some  bikers and bumped into a couple dogs.  Dr Doolittle had dog treats and feed a few pooches. 

The trail wrapped behind some houses with some ups and downs and then we headed towards SR51.  Again, we will be traveling under the road to the Dreamy Draw part of the Phoenix Preserve.

We went under the highway and picked up the trail marker.  We did not need a restroom but if you did stop at the Dreamy Draw parking lot.

This is where I started to complain about the trail markers. Many of the poles do not have the #100 marker.  We saw Markers for #220 but that would of headed us to Piestawa Peak area.  We went through a horse tunnel that we had not noticed in previous walks. We believe because when you come East to West you head towards the restrooms automatically.

We took the paths that we thought were best. WRONG! We found ourselves following a lady who later bushwacked.  We did not cut across like her and headed South, then felt we were too far, we took another path North...WRONG!  We should have continued South to catch the trail that cut across the LV Yates Trail.  We ended up at the Trailhead at 40th Street South of Shea where the LV Yates trail begins.  Oh well, say some horses and could hit the restroom if needed.  Not us though!

We took the LV Yates Trail South til the interestion with the Christiansen trail.  We headed East. We were back on track.

We knew that there was about a mile left for our hike.
We made our call to our pickup driver ~ Julio.
There were not alot of wild flowers to see on this hike.






We finished and waited at the Tatum Trailhead for about 5 minutes.  There was only one car parked and another that arrived with two bikers.  Pretty quiet morning.

Tina had the perfect seat on a bench under a blossoming tree.  AAAACHOOO!

This was a great hike.  Perfect Weather.  

With our detour it was a little over 9 miles and we did it in under 3 hours which was our goal.  

The West to East route has a few more hills. 

Not alot of elevation but a long distance hike does tire you out. 

Hike #28 - Check it off! 

Hike #27 - Granite Gardens Trail Prescott AZ

Hike #27

Date: March 30, 2014 

Location: Phoenix AZ

Hikers: Me & Julio (down by the school yard)

Directions:  
From Phoenix, take I17 North to SR69 Cordes Junction exit.  Go west for 30 miles on SR69.  Turn right on Prescott Lakes Parkway. Continue for 2.1 miles to SR89. Take a right onto SR89 for 2.2 miles. Take a right onto Granite Garden Drive (Dirt road).  The Granite Garden Senior Living Community is on the left side with a big flag.  The dirt road gets bumpy.  If you have a regular car park on the right as you immediately enter. (see picture below). No water or restrooms. 

Mile High Trail System - Prescott Arizona : 

http://cityofprescott.net/services/parks/trails/?id=77
 or
http://cityofprescott.net/_d/trails/granite_gardens_trail_system_map.pdf

Julio and I decided to head north for this hike.  Our plan is to do two hikes, however the wind made our plans change and we stuck to one.  I was also told not to pick a long hard hike.

We started the day walking around the old town of Prescott/Whiskey Row.  It was chilly at 60 degrees and windy.  It looked like it may rain but we never saw a drop.  Finding the trailhead was easier than some of the trip reports made it sound.  The road was marked and the parking was easy.  There was only one other car in the lot.

There is a stairway on the side of the parking lot.  There is a bouldering area if you want to try that.

We headed down the road across a creek/bridge to get to the trailhead. 

There is a creek with a little waterfall. We crossed the bridge to the other side where the trailhead is located. 

The sky is clearing as we start. The wind is whipping but it looks like this is going to be a fun hike.

We decided to start at the Stairway loop and wing it once we were up there.  

This trail is a follow the dot trail. I can honestly say this was the best marked "follow the dot" I have ever done.  Great Job.  I understand this is a new trail. The "Over the hill gang" volunteers that created it did an awesome job.
It is one of the best hikes (fun) I have done.

There is the first dot!  Yeah. We know we are heading up.  

 The quick elevation packs a little punch.  My camera man's heart was racing a little.  He stopped for a quick breather. 

It really is a beautiful area and fun!  

You can see the Granite Creek below. 

How can you beat this view?  

Makes you want to hum the song by Imagine Dragons - 

I'm on top of the World!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5tWYmIOWGk

So much for the cloudy sky. This is blue! 

The wind has picked up a lot as we climbed to this point.

We wrapped around and made it to the "stairway". 

There are 38 stairs. 

Thus the name of the trail = Stairway Loop. 

We head up the stairs and stopped to take in the beauty of the area. At the top of the stairs there were hooks in the rocks. People must free climb or scale. Whatever it is called.  So far we have not seen a soul.  Amazing! This was our view from the top of the stairs.  We followed the dots to the West and then down, then back to the East.

 At the top of the hill was a bench.  I read on another blog that someone put the bench there and dedicated it to their Dad on his birthday. Pretty cool! This was my view as I called Colleen to say Happy Birthday.  I feel bad that I am in beautiful weather and she is not. :) Sorry!

 

We head down the hill and in the distance we finally see a person.  There was a man hiking with his two dogs. We hiked past him and he headed up the hill we just came down.  

    

Julio and I did a little rock climbing ourselves.

We headed down the hill towards the West.  We saw this cool rock.  Can't miss it!
We finished the StairWay Loop and now decide to hit the Rock Stacker.
This cave was near the trailhead.

 This is our view as we pick up the follow the dots on the Rock Stacker trail.  So many cool views.

See why this trail is called Rock Stacker.  Julio thought this picture looked like a monkey head.  Lots of opportunities to use your imagination. It is interesting how the terrain changes.  On the other side the rocks were more red and then they turn a little grayer.

I often find myself rushing to get to the end of a hike.  Either need to complete it in a good time or keep my heart rate up to get the cardio.  Sometimes it is nice to just sit and take it in.  (and if you bring your friendly photographer you get amazing pictures for your memories)

The Rock Stacker turns into the Grotto Trail. At this point the wind is pretty powerful.  Let's say it is not a good hair day.

This side of the hill we see more cactus.  This one green cactus was really weird.  I will have to look it up.  It was not hard it was flimsy. Almost like something you see in New England.  It is larger than the picture appears.  There were a bunch that were growing around dead brush.

Definition of Grotto = Any type of natural or artificial cave that is associated with modern, historic or prehistoric use by humans. 

OK so no joking here I did not know what a Grotto was. I guess I thought it was a bar in Newburyport. HA HA.  Seriously.  I googled it.  Who knew?

Here is the Grotto.  It was huge and tight.  But fun!  

 Good thing we are skinny!

This was a great hike.  FUN!  We did all the trails in this area.  It is a short hike only 2.25 and only took a little over an hour to explore.  We only saw one person which was shocking. This hike is great for kids too that like exploring.
I will come back here for sure.  Good spot to bring out of town guests.  It is a short ride from Phoenix.

  

We headed to Jerome after and had a great day!

Special thanks to Julio for all the GREAT pictures!  

Hike # 27 - Check it off!!