Pass Mountain #283 at Meridan Road

Ah yes, the words "trail finding" and INFPeg are only uttered in the same sentence when something goes VERY wrong.  BUT, I was a very good INFP and turned around when I realized the original route was out of reach today.  Besides, we were trying out the new hydration pack:

And I realized that the hydration nozzle thing is really hard to get water out of so giving the dogs a quick drink became quite the endeavor.  Therefore, turning around and going back to get our "old fashioned" water bottle (some old plastic container with a lid..I think it held honey) was the right decision.  The hydration pack is neat for me though!!! With that and the dogs bottle, there should be plenty of water for our hikes.


OK!  We were going to explore the Pass Mountain trail which is part of Usery Park in AJ/Mesa.  I was looking for a quick route and thought we would trek up to Cat Peaks for a nice little hike.  I certainly didn't want to fall again :)  My knee is almost better but it is still tender.  I was a little surprised that there were so many cars at the trail head, there must have been about 7 or 8.  It was pretty warm, in the upper 80's.  That being said, the trail was pretty empty and the dogs had pletny of off leash time!
Here is the trail head.

Foxy ran off right away with her leash still attached and Buddy was fit to be tied because he wasn't running around with her.  So I quickly off-ed the leashes.

Anybody find any horse poop yet???

The hike wasn't very long, due to lack of INFP navigational skills but the views were breath taking even in the short distance we traveled.

This is my favorite pic

At the fork in the trail

Cool Cactus

Mountains

The Wash at The Fork

We quickly came upon what I imagine was the first of many neat washes.  Unfortunately, this was where I lost the trail.  What is super hilarious though, is Buddy didn't lose the trail for a second.  Now that I look more closely at the satellite map, I can see that where Buddy was headed was the trail!!!  I even told him he was going the wrong way.  Here is the video :)

 Wrong Way Beesley  

It was all good though!  This trail was so empty that the way back was also "leash free".  YAY!

Here comes the dog!!!

Foxy finds some shade

Bye Bye Usery Pass!

Hieroglyphic Trail #101

Finally!  A trail that we finished before sunset!  The Hieroglyphic Trail is a very heavily used trail that ends with a pool, waterfall, and hieroglyphics on the rocks from the Hohokam Tribe.  It is a very neat trail spot with awesome views of the Stitions. 

Trail head

The trail is *VERY* heavily used, at least on the Sunday we went.  This was less than ideal on a hike with the dogs, so there was no "off leash time".  They still had fun though.

Buddy contemplates the route

Foxy stops to take in the spectacular view

The trail started out very easy, the whole trail was much easier than the ones in Lost Dutchman Park, as far as getting out of breath, but is is pretty rocky so watch your step!  Here are some pictures of the trail on the way up.

 There were lots of neat things about this hike:  cacti, views, flowers, pool, and hieroglyphics.  So I will show them in that order.

There were a ton of really tall majestic saguaro cacti.

This cactus had to be about 50 feet tall...it was incredible!

TWHS

 The views of the Superstitions were incredible too.

The back side of the 'Stitions

More back side

Inside the 'Stitions

Cool Views!

 The wild flowers are just starting to bloom, I can't wait to take the dogs on some wild flower hikes.

There were a lot of flowers on the trail!

I loved this white flower

After hiking for about an hour or so, we finally came up to the "main attraction" of the hike:  the pool and hieroglyphics.  This would have been awesome if there hadn't been so many people there...it was hard to move and get close to things but it was still cool.  The stream was flowing and there were lots of kids playing in the water.

There is also a really cool "mini-cave" that the dogs and I hung out in.

View out of the cave

Buddy inside the cave

 The main attraction for me though was seeing the Hieroglyphics!

Goats!

More Goats!

Goats...in the cave??

Here is the whole rock..there is a balloon guy too

Uh....the Indians learned English???

The dogs and I didn't hang out too much at the hole/cave.  It was just too crowded so we headed back and made it in time way before sunset.  However, INFPeg fell down once again on the way back.  I stepped on a rock wrong.  It has been a week and my knee is still sore.  SIGH

The END!!!

Treasure Loop Trail #56 Sunset Photos

This is a good old standby for the dogs and I, as it only takes about an hour if the INFP with the camera doesn't get too distracted.

Here is the "trail head".  I love the cool wooden fence entrance.

Since we started out at about 5:45 pm, there weren't too many other peeps on the trail so the dogs got some "off leash time".

Foxy Fast Feet!

Right away Buddy went poop that was runny and yellow and got all over his butt, EEEEEWWW!  I didn't take pictures of that. THEN, when we got close to the parking lot, again, it was Buddy causing trouble, he found some jumping cholla cactus nubs and he flung one up onto me on the back of my leg! OUCH.  Then I had to pull the other one out of his paw.  Geesh!  Yet, he looks so innocent in this picture below.

"I have yellow Poo on my tail and butt"

The view up is AMAZING!!  I love my 'Stitions.  I hugz them.  You can see the trail winding up toward the base of the "bluffs".

This picture was taken about halfway up.  I want to go back after it rains sometime in the next few months, wildflowers blanket the area after a rain I'm told.

Here the sun is starting to set, this is about 3/4 of the way to the highest point on the trail.

As usual, it started to get dark so we had to hurry back to the parking lot, but once again, we got an AWESOME sunset, with some AWESOME shots!

This was one of the infamous Arizona sunsets, I can't believe I was able to get these colors on camera!

 

Here is a shot of the sun setting over the city-scape of Apache Junction/Mesa.

Foxy popping over a small incline on the trail.  I'm so excited that the colors came through in the photos!

Here is a sunset cactus!  This cactus has a lot of character...if it hadn't been so dark, I would have hugged him.