2012 1-21 Ballantine Trail

Length: 12.9 miles

Duration: 8 Hours 22 minutes

Vertical Up: 3786 feet
My track log at EveryTrail

Would you hike 13 miles to discover a Geocache?  This was the question that I was asking myself as I met up with a dedicated group of hikers along the Beeline Highway on a cold January morning.  Although the ultimate goal was not clear to me, I knew the hike was going to be long uphill and have some good views.  

The hike starts out easy enough with a modest 700 foot elevation gain over the first 2 miles.  The trail is very well established and a "easy" hike.  

Around the four mile mark we hit the first goal of the hike, Trojan Horse.  This is a rock formation that looks like a horse. Of course their is a Geocache there.  I was the only one in our group not to have found this cache, so I went to the rock and found it (after a bit of contortionist-like moves).  

From this point on the hike gets, well, interesting.  The climb starts to get serious here and the trail begins to become overgrown.  There are points in this portion where its easy to loose the trail if you are not paying attention.

A few more mile of hiking brought us to our second goal, a rock called "Evil Fish".  Since this was a new location for all of us, we did the cache that was located here.

Now it got fun.  From Evil Fish on, the trail is unbelievably steep and way overgrown.  Pants (not shorts) are a must on this trail and its not uncommon to draw blood on any exposed skin.  The last 1/2 mile of the hike seemed like it was straight up through a forest of bushes and plants that stabbed, poked and did everything it could to prevent us from reaching our goal.

I think it took 45 minutes to hike the last 1/2 mile, but the reward was worth it.  Our turn around poiint was a rock outcropping with a tremendous view of where we came from.  We paused here to eat lunch and began the long trek back.

The 7 mile hike back was more of the same brutality.  The only difference is the downhill slant of the trail reeked havoc on my knees.  Eventually we made it back to the trailhead.  this was a very cool hike, but, one I won't repeat anytime soon.  When I do, It think I'll bring a machete! 

2012 1-1 McDowell Mountain Regional Part

Length: 8.4miles

Duration: 4 Hours 31 minutes

Vertical Up: 1319 feet
My track log at EveryTrail

Today’s hike was in the McDowell Mountain Regional Park.  The 21,099-acre has  over 50 miles of hiking/mountain biking  trails and spectacular views of four peaks, Fountain Hills and the Superstition Mountains.  This hike was my first “powertrail” geocache event.  A powertrail is a series of caches are laid out along a roadway or hiking trail in order to log as many finds in as short a distance as possible.

The folks at the McDowell Mountain preserve have been gracious enough to allow a group of geocachers to set up a few powertrail loops around the park.  Roughly 10 geocachers chose today to get together to do some serious caching.  Today’s plan was to do the big loop and get as many caches as possible.

The hike stared off in the Visitor’s center.  As I mentioned above, the employees here are extremely cacher friendly.  The first cache of the day was a mystery cache.  It involved finding answers to three questions in the VC and presenting them to the cashier.  Once we did that, she brought out the cache.  Cool way to start the day.

A quick drive to the trailhead and we were off on the hike.  This particular powertrail had about 10 caches per mile - one approximately every 500 feet.  They were “easily hidden” 35 mm film canister.  We decided on a team name and started out. 

The hike itself was mellow.  It was basically flat (a slight 400 foot elevation gain) and well maintained trail all the way.  The group quickly got into a rhythm of leap frogging caches.  About a ¼ of the way into the hike we spotted 4 deer about 500 feet off the trail.

It was a joy to hike with so many people swapping stories about caches, hikes, hides and people.  In what seemed like no time at all we were at the back of the park, stopping for lunch at a bench overlook. 

As the hike drew on it did become a bit monotonous and (dare I say warm).  If I’ve learned on thing hiking in Arizona it is how to dress in layers.  A few more miles of hiking and we called it quits at the main road.

What a great way to start the New Year!  All total, we found 71 caches! 

2011 12-31 Daisy Mountain

Length: 8.7 miles

Duration: 6 Hours 11 minutes

Vertical Up: 3491 feet
My track log at EveryTrail

I've been lazy lately. A recent bought with the flu combine with the dark, dark mornings of winter have conspired to keep me away from the treadmill in the morning.  Combine that with a few good holiday meals and I've become quite a slug.  I know I've put back on some weight but I'm too chicken to see how much.

Since the year was drawing to a close, I decided to end this year of transformation with a hike to the same place my year began - Daisy Mountain.  I wanted to hike with some new friends and neighbors so I put out the notice that I was hiking.  I was happy that six others decided to spend the last day of the year hiking up to the summit with me.


I wanted to start the morning at first light so we agreed to meet at 7:30.  As described here a couple of times, the hike starts out with about 1 1/2 miles of flat hiking.  I have come to name this portion the "Parkside Penalty".  As it turns out, if you start the hike up Daisy Mountain from the Anthem Country Club, you can avoid this long, monotonous section of the hike.

Since I've described the hike a few times in this blog, I'm not going to go into details about the hike.  The part of the hike that was interesting today was that I was one of the stronger hikers (and I'm not use to that).  So the journey up to the summit was a mixture of tough verticals, tour guide and cheerleader.  After a few hours we had all made it to the saddle area just below the first summit.  This is where we shared water with two ladies hiking to the top with NO WATER.  It always amazes me to see people hiking with nothing.

After a short steep hike we reached the summit.  It was such a beautiful day for hiking.  This is the kind of day that I envision people taking brochure pictures for Anthem.  After a short lunch break we headed down.  The downhill leg was filled with a bit of excitement as one of our party decided it may be quicker to roll down the mountain.  After thinking better, she grabbed a rock to stop her fall.  Luckily all we had to deal with were scrapes and bruises - nothing broken!

The fall slowed our decent somewhat as we were being extremely careful on the steep areas.  About halfway down we stopped at our last geocache.  this was where I heard from Jim and his 9 year old daughter.  We had though they turned around at the saddle but they pressed on and made it to the summit.  Quite an achievement for a 9 year old!  Knowing they had to come down the backside (and because I was their ride home), I said goodbye to the main group and went back to hike with Jim.


We met at another cache up the hill and made our way back down, through the "Parkside Penalty" and back to the car.

This was a great hike and a fabulous way to end 2011!

2011 12-11 Skull Mesa

Length: 11 miles

Duration: 7 Hours 19 minutes

Vertical Up: 3684 feet
My track log at EveryTrail

About two years ago I went on a hike to Skull Mesa.  The hike was described with the following disclaimer “The terrain can and will be difficult at times so be prepared. The hike might take anywhere from 6 - 8 hours depending on how fast (or slow) we hike.”  I never made it to the top of Skull Mesa and the group ended up finishing the hike 10 hours later in the dark.

This failure has weighed on my mind for a while.  I’ve wanted to try this hike again now that I am in a little better physical shape.  With the help of a hiking club I am a member of, I arranged a geocache event to Return to Skull Mesa.

The Skull Mesa hike can be broken up into three legs: Hiking the river, hiking across to the base and the final assent to the summit.  A better description of the route can be found at the Hike Arizona site. 

View of Skull Mesa from the Parking Area

Hiking the River

Looking back at Cottonwood Creek

The group met at 8 AM at the parking area of the Spur CrossRanch Conservation Area on a particularly cold morning in December.  In all, seven people and two dogs were brave enough to start hiking with temperatures in the 40s.  At the start of our hike, the sun had not peaked over the surrounding hills and the wind was whipping around.  It was cold.

We all paid our $3.00 and began the first leg of the hike. This leg follows Spur Cross Road as it crosses Cottonwood Creek.  It is a well maintained trail and is part of the Maricopa Trail System.  Two miles and a few creek crossings later we arrived at the trailhead of the next leg of our hike.

Hiking Across to the Base

Skull Mesa is getting Closer

After finding a geocache, we started our hike on the Cave Creek Trail System.  We briefly followed Cave Creek trail #4 (for about 500 feet), then took a right onto trail Cottonwood Trail #247.  Cottonwood trail took us east cross country for approximately 4 miles.  This portion of the hike followed the terrain of the hills with several assents and descents mixed in.

Hikers finding a cache

The last mile or so of this portion is a pretty steady climb to the base of Skull Mesa Summit trail.  As it turns out, this four mile stretch takes a whole lot out of you.  The switchbacks and constant climbing and descending never quite allow you to catch your breath. 

It took us about two hours to hike the four miles to the base of Skull Mesa.  When you reach the trail, there is a gate with a pretty cool self-closing weight.  At this point we rested for 15 minutes before beginning the climb to Skull Mesa

The Final Assent

Skull Mesa Trail (#248) is 1.2 miles of pure hell.  The trial begins nice enough with a steady climb passing some ancient petroglyphs.  About a quarter mile in, the climb starts – and boy does it climb.  I’m no expert in rating a climb, but, I got to say that an 1100 foot assent in one mile is tough – really tough.  Two years ago, I quit this hike about ½ mile into the climb.  Today I was a better man and slowy made my way to the top.

The Summit

For those crazy enough to make it to the top, you are reward with SPECTCULAR views of the north valley.   Today was a hazy day but the views were still awesome.  We spent about ½ hour on top eating lunch and resting up.  This was a proud moment for me as I was able to conquer something that I could not do just one year ago. 

The Skull Mesa Cache is a very cool cache with a few resident travel bugs and it even hides a real skull.

After resting up, we decided to pass on exploring the mesa and beginning the descent down.   Although the descent is not tough on the lungs, it sure is tough on the legs.  Basically you are in a control fall for most of the way back to Cottonwood Creek.  I welcomed the few uphill portions on the way back.  It probably is hard for non-hikers to understand but I really prefer climbing over descending.  Sure it’s tougher on the muscles, but, it is easier on the knees.

If you like hiking I would recommend this hike.  It’s not for everyone and should be considered strenuous.   I can’t wait to go back (when I am a bit stronger) and explore the backside (north) of the Mesa.  I understand there are some Indian Ruins back there.

2011 11-13 Peralta Trail - Superstition Wilderness

Length: 11.6 miles

Duration: 6 Hours 15 minutes

Vertical Up: 5495 feet
My track log at EveryTraill

This my first time hiking in the Superstitions and it will not be my last.   This is a beautiful area and so much different than other areas around the valley.  The hike was put on through one of the hiking meet up groups I belong to.  It was originally supposed to be a short 5 1/2 mile hike with a view of Weaver's Needle and some caves on the way back.  Those plans changed.

On the morning of the hike I woke up to pouring rain at my house - not the best hiking weather.  However, since Anthem is at least 60 miles away from the Superstitions, I knew the weather would be different.  I met up with the group and we drove to the trailhead.  Because of the rain, the group turned out to be only 3 of the 5 people that signed up for the hike.

At the trail head it was drizzling and cold.  Since 99% of my hikes are in hot weather, this was a welcome change.  While we were there we talked to the ranger about the trail conditions and the different options we had to extend the hike.  We found out that the hike all the way around Weaver's needle was 12 - 15 miles.  We made this our goal (and I snapped a picture of the map).





The first 2 1/2 miles of the hike was a steady 1100 foot assent for 2 1/2 miles up to about 3800 feet.  Along the way we were bombarded by a steady drizzle and rewarded with spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.


At the summit of this section we were treated to our first view of the Weaver's needle.  This was where the original hike was supposed to turn and head back down the Cave Trail.  Since we were just warming up and had 3 strong hikers , we decided to press on and hike all the way around Weaver's Needle.

Weaver's Needle in the Rain

The next section of the hike was a steady 3 1/2 mile decent keeping the needle on our right (to the east).  There were several points where we stopped to study the map, our surroundings and the trail to make sure we were going the right way.  Soon enough we reached the northern end of our hike at the base of Black Top Mesa.  This is where the hike turned east.  Interesting not here, from the map at the trail head, we knew the trail numbers we were supposed to follow.  When we reached this turn, the sign did not have the numbers, only the name of the trail.


We followed the base of Black Top Mesa east for a short hike and got a view of Weaver's needle from the north.  After a short stop for lunch, we turned south to head back down a new trail back to the trail head.

As if on cue, the weather began to clear up.  Our morning in the rain was not a waste as we were rewarded with blue skies and crisp air.  As soon as we turned south the trail got steep, I described it as a swift assent.  I was feeling good and keeping up with the strong hiker and sometimes leading and setting the pace.  We followed the trail back south, keeping Weaver's Needle on our right.  The trail kept up its steep climb for about a mile, before beginning a slow decent back to the trail head.





The rest was was a combination of following the ridge line while slowly descending.   There was an occasional climb to the top of some hill, but it was mostly an easy hike.


In no time at all the parking lot came into view and before we knew it we made it back to where we began.  Twelve miles, half in the rain.  What a great way to spend a Sunday!