Seeking a shorter and easier hike after our climbing on Gateway Trail, we visited Tom Thumb trailhead in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in order to explore “the Marcus Landslide.” (3.0 mi/4.8 KM)”
After traversing the rollercoaster and unpaved road, and finding the elusive trailhead, we headed out on a descending path. I personally enjoy climbing first on a hike, knowing I will be descending on my way back. This beginning trail descent meant we would need energy at the end of this hike to ascend.
Finally. After a week hiking in Scottsdale, Arizona, I found the small ‘cactus trees’ that make Western lamps. My father has had several of these for 60 plus years! Some one harvested the dead cactus and brought them to my great-grandfather in Indiana in the 1940s and 1950s. He fashioned them into lights and they have been in my parent’s home all my life. It is illegal to gather or disturb any cactus today.
We saw “mushrooms” stones made of limestone. Huge boulder fields perfect for the climbers. An up and down well maintained path with multiple “washes” alongside the path. The amount of snake holes made me uneasy, but it was only 65 degrees when we began the hike in middle November.
He changes rivers into deserts, and springs of water into dry, thirsty land. Psalms 107:33 NLT
Once we reached the “Marcus Landslide” there was an explanation of how monstrous boulders could have slid down the mountain and rolled hundreds of feet creating the now sloping mountain. The boulders slide on a mud like substance and made a huge hole or depression at the bottom of the ancient mountain almost 2000 ft/61 m in elevation.
Now we had to climb up to the car parking lot and finish this hike. By this time, I was slightly bored with the “sameness” of each hike. Living in the Rocky Mountains, hiking is always interesting in different terrains. I do not think I would want to hike the same type of terrain every day in my backyard.
Do you like to hike in the desert? Walk along the seashore? Climb steep mountain terrain? Walk in your urban landscape parks?