I have been wanting to try this for a while. I wanted to hike from New River up over Daisy Mountain and into Anthem.
I have read that you can get pretty close to The backside of Daisy Mountain from the Power Line road off of New River Road. Looking at Google maps, I saw that there is a road that got real close. I was ready. Since I have done most every Geocache on Daisy Mountain, this was a hike only.
New Year's Day was the perfect day to try this. Wendy had to go feed the dog at my in-laws, so she agreed to dump me off on Power Line road. I actually stopped about a mile short of where I wanted to. The road was too rough for the Jeep and Wendy taking it back.
So she dropped me off just a bit off Power Line Road and I was off on my quest.
It ended up I stopped about a mile short of where I saw the road end on the map. This is probably good because the road gets a little rough for a 2WD Jeep. I walked the extra mile in no time and made it to the beginning of the uphill climb.
Climbing uphill to the North peak was tough. There are 3 or 4 major hills that switchback up. This is a view of the north peak with the flag sticking up way in the distance. From here I was motivated and a little overwhelmed at the distance left to climb.
If you don't already know, someone maintains an American Flag on the peak. Well, during the climb up the flag remains relatively hidden. So I climbed up and up until I made it to the flag. Along the way I met a rather pleasant gentleman who was solo hiking. We crossed paths at just the right time, cause I think I was about to keel over. We talked for a few minutes and then I continued on to the summit of the north peak.
What a spectacular view from the top.
My first regret is that I did not go on New Year's Eve. I think there was much more snow on the surrounding mountains. I spent a few minutes admiring the view and signed the summit log. My guess is I hiked about 3 miles by now.
Daisy Mountain is actually 2 peaks. The southern peak is a few feet higher than the northern peak. The hike between the two peaks is about 1/2 mile trail down through a saddle then back up to the next peak. I knocked this out rather quickly. It is here that you get your first view of Anthem.
I find a bit of beauty overlooking the urban sprawl. Anthem has a unique look and I love to sit on this peak and take it in.
The sun was getting low so I had to get moving. The hike down is tough. It is a bit steep and the trail is light at times. I made it down to the southern saddle in no time and down the switchbacks to place where the trail traverses the mountain east to west. This is my favorite part of the hike. I don't know why, but I love following the trail as it traverses the side of the mountain. the views of Anthem and Gavilan Peak are cool.
Once you meet the junction, its a steep hike down to the meat of the trail. I estimate I hiked about 5 miles by now. This is an estimate cause my GPS started freaking out and rebooted. I lost the entire track log.
It's about 1 1/2 miles mostly flat from here. The sun was dropping fast and I was treated to a spektacular sunset. I hiked the last mile with a flashlight. the desert sure comes alive at dusk!
The descent down from Shaw Butte was along a long road that was crowded with people going up (this is the most popular route). Unbelievably I had the urge to run down the trail but resisted because I knew another climb was coming. The 1.5 mile hike down was easy and in short time I was on the bottom on the north side of the park. A short hike later and I was looking at my next ascent, North Mountain.
It turns out The Anthem Hiking Club is a bunch of retired people from the Country Club that are into hiking. They have formed a club and have their hikes listed as part of Anthem’s fitness programs. They have managed access to one of the Community vans. For $11bucks, I get a ride, new hiking places and people who share my interest in Hiking!
Bronco Trail is located in the Seven Springs Recreation Area out by Bartlett lake (Nice summary of Seven Springs Recreation Area). There was a pretty bad fire out there in 2005. All the underbrush is growing back but most of the trees are dead. To be honest, it was kind of barren. 
After the initial climb, the hike meandered over the top of some hills. We crossed over to another peak and climbed again. There were 2 or 3 good climbs and downhill during the hike. We also ran across a horse skeleton, complete with a hoof. Kind of strange – but what would you do with a dead horse 3 miles from nowhere? At the 3 mile mark, we hit the crossing to another trail. This was our scheduled turn around point. From this point there was a great view of Skull Mesa (I climbed this one last year).
I decided to take Josh along on the hike. A few hours outside and not in front of the X-Box would do him good. We arrived at the trailhead and paid our six dollar “daily use” fee, fired up the GPS and set out hiking. From the start, it was a short ¼ mile or so down to the Aqua Fria River and our first obstacle. The “river” portion was about 30 feet across and crossing it meant traversing over the top of the dry rocks. Not a problem in my mind, but, Josh was a bit panicked. After some encouragement and a few pointers, Josh bounced across only getting his toes wet.
The next segment of the hike was about 1 mile of uphill along an occasionally steep road. In this segment Josh really started to struggle and I was wondering if he was going to make it. With many breaks and a few pep talks we were soon at the location I had marked on the map as the trailhead up to Indian Mesa After 5 minutes of searching, we found the game trail and were on our way up to the summit.
I find a bit of beauty overlooking the urban sprawl. Anthem has a unique look and I love to sit on this peak and take it in.
