Date: May 31, 2014
Location: Phoenix AZ
Hikers: Me, Jim & Tina
Directions:
I17 North to Happy Valley Road or 7th Street North to Happy Valley Road. North on 19th Ave. Stay Straight onto N North Valley Pkwy. Take 3rd right onto W Copperhead Trail. Take 2nd left onto N Melvern Trail and first right onto W Desert Vista Trail. This trailhead is behind the Fireside Housing Development. No Water/No Restrooms
Sonoran Preserve - Desert Vista 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
Back at the Sonoran Preserve. 3 1/2 months left to train for the Grand Canyon. We are looking to get distance in to our weekend hikes. The canyon hike will be 21 miles rim to rim in a day. It is important that your feet can hike that far. Our goal today is a 9 mile hike. I studied the trail map since we have done a lot of the trails over the past months. None of the numbers add up to 9 miles. So it will either be a 7 miler or a 10 miler. We shall see!
It is officially HOT here in AZ. We have lucked out this year that the morning heat had not hit yet. Atleast in my opinion. We know this morning will be in the mid 90's at 9:00 am and should be 106 today. We started our hike at 6:00 am.
We hiked up Hawks Nest to Dixie Mountain Loop. We took that to the West. We decided to skip the Western Summit since we were going for distance. There were several people and bikes on the trail this early morning. We realized we probably should be starting earlier on these long hikes. At 7:00 it is already hot. The sunrises at 5:20 now. What's an hour less of sleep on a Saturday.
We chatted about last weeks bushwhack and compared scratches on our legs. We were so stupid to continue. For some reason some think we should go back in the fall to find the wave cave. I am a maybe.
We headed up the North Side of Dixie Mountain when Tina stuck her hand out in front of me and made a SHHHN noise. Well, I saw it and screamed. It was a snake. A Huge One. HA HA. Actually a little one about a foot long. I think it was a Garter Snake but truthfully I tried to google Arizona snakes and hit images. Almost threw up. You learn your snakes on your own. Tina and Jim had fun laughing at me and said it had a Machete in it's hand. Lizards carry knifes.
Anyway we rounded the corner on Dixie Mountain and then decided to branch off from Jim. He was heading home back down Hawks Nest. Tina and I were going for distance.
We took a Left (East) onto Valley Verde Trail. This will take us to other options on the South Side of the preserve. We hit the junction of Cactus Wren and Tina made the executive call to go for it. We looked at the map and distance and figured that would put us in at 9 miles. It was hot but we knew we could do it. It was also Hair cut day and French Open day so we wanted to be done by 9:00. Off we went. A woman and guy were at the junction with us and they chose to go the other direction.
It was hot as we climbed slightly up. It is pretty flat though. Cactus Wren ends and the Great Horned Owl trail loop starts. We went up the hill heading North West. We met up with the couple who was heading back where we came from. We slowly climbed up Union Peak and we could feel that we had gone 8 miles. This is why it is so important to add distance to your hikes when training for Rim to Rim. Going down the canyon is a breeze - Adrenaline, cool temps and early morning. You hit Phantom Ranch and it was a piece of cake. But then you hit a flat less scenic part of the bottom on the canyon and then you have to haul your ass out of the most beautiful hole in the world.
This is a good site on day hikes and forums:
http://www.dayhiker.com/directory/GrandCanyonrimtorimDayHike.htm
With that in mind....Up we GO!
We break out an apple while we hike and bitch about the heat. Tina got creative with her bandana under her hat. We were soon at the junction Valley Verde and Cactus Wren. We met the couple there too. We traveled the same pace. We had about one mile to go and 15 minutes to hit 9:00. Game on.
We saw a lot more people as we picked up Desert Tortoise Trail West. I hope they are not going far because it felt hot. Down Hawks Nest and we made it to the parking lot at 9:03. Close!
My GPS said we went 10.85 miles. I had read from other trip reports that the mileage on the map was slightly off from Mapmyhike and other GPS tools. I anticipated that so I knew we would either do a lot or less than planned. It was a great hike. Amazing how different 6 miles vs 10 feels.
Sonoran Preserve - Desert Vista 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
Back at the Sonoran Preserve. 3 1/2 months left to train for the Grand Canyon. We are looking to get distance in to our weekend hikes. The canyon hike will be 21 miles rim to rim in a day. It is important that your feet can hike that far. Our goal today is a 9 mile hike. I studied the trail map since we have done a lot of the trails over the past months. None of the numbers add up to 9 miles. So it will either be a 7 miler or a 10 miler. We shall see!It is officially HOT here in AZ. We have lucked out this year that the morning heat had not hit yet. Atleast in my opinion. We know this morning will be in the mid 90's at 9:00 am and should be 106 today. We started our hike at 6:00 am.
We hiked up Hawks Nest to Dixie Mountain Loop. We took that to the West. We decided to skip the Western Summit since we were going for distance. There were several people and bikes on the trail this early morning. We realized we probably should be starting earlier on these long hikes. At 7:00 it is already hot. The sunrises at 5:20 now. What's an hour less of sleep on a Saturday.
We chatted about last weeks bushwhack and compared scratches on our legs. We were so stupid to continue. For some reason some think we should go back in the fall to find the wave cave. I am a maybe.
We headed up the North Side of Dixie Mountain when Tina stuck her hand out in front of me and made a SHHHN noise. Well, I saw it and screamed. It was a snake. A Huge One. HA HA. Actually a little one about a foot long. I think it was a Garter Snake but truthfully I tried to google Arizona snakes and hit images. Almost threw up. You learn your snakes on your own. Tina and Jim had fun laughing at me and said it had a Machete in it's hand. Lizards carry knifes.
Anyway we rounded the corner on Dixie Mountain and then decided to branch off from Jim. He was heading home back down Hawks Nest. Tina and I were going for distance.
We took a Left (East) onto Valley Verde Trail. This will take us to other options on the South Side of the preserve. We hit the junction of Cactus Wren and Tina made the executive call to go for it. We looked at the map and distance and figured that would put us in at 9 miles. It was hot but we knew we could do it. It was also Hair cut day and French Open day so we wanted to be done by 9:00. Off we went. A woman and guy were at the junction with us and they chose to go the other direction.
It was hot as we climbed slightly up. It is pretty flat though. Cactus Wren ends and the Great Horned Owl trail loop starts. We went up the hill heading North West. We met up with the couple who was heading back where we came from. We slowly climbed up Union Peak and we could feel that we had gone 8 miles. This is why it is so important to add distance to your hikes when training for Rim to Rim. Going down the canyon is a breeze - Adrenaline, cool temps and early morning. You hit Phantom Ranch and it was a piece of cake. But then you hit a flat less scenic part of the bottom on the canyon and then you have to haul your ass out of the most beautiful hole in the world.
This is a good site on day hikes and forums:
http://www.dayhiker.com/directory/GrandCanyonrimtorimDayHike.htm
With that in mind....Up we GO!
We saw a lot more people as we picked up Desert Tortoise Trail West. I hope they are not going far because it felt hot. Down Hawks Nest and we made it to the parking lot at 9:03. Close!
My GPS said we went 10.85 miles. I had read from other trip reports that the mileage on the map was slightly off from Mapmyhike and other GPS tools. I anticipated that so I knew we would either do a lot or less than planned. It was a great hike. Amazing how different 6 miles vs 10 feels.
We will find more distance over the next couple weeks and start early.
Tips or summer hiking.
1. Start Early 2. Lots of H20. 3. Electrolytes for longer hikes. 4. Hat & Sunscreen
Almost to 40 hikes!! #38 Check it off!
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