Scottsdale McDowell Sonoran Preserve

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Geo: 33.494, -111.921

We flew into Phoenix, AZ, on a Tuesday
and, after picking up our rental car, drove to the La Quinta
Inn in North Phoenix where we were able to check in a bit
early. Then on to the Gateway Trailhead for the
McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Northeastern Scottsdale.
We really just wanted to stretch our legs and get a taste
of what the preserve would be like, so we did a short 3
miles or so on those trails. The trails there, at least those
close to the trailhead, were mostly a walk in the desert
with lowmountains in the distance. We also were able to
pick up a brochure with a map of the trails in the southern
section of the preserve. Back at the motel, we checked
out the trail map and decided to hike in the Tom's Thumb
trailhead area on Wednesday. This was a good decision
because the trails from that trailhead were considerably
more scenic, not to mention more strenuous.

Wednesday morning we drove the 20 plus
miles through the heavy traffic provided by the over 1.5
millionpeople living in the Phoenix area to the trailhead.
We hiked the Tom's Thumb Trail for about 2.5 miles and
a gain in elevation of a little over 1,100 feet through lots
of interesting and dramatic rock formations to the base
of Tom's Thumb itself. The thumb is a very large monolithic
stone obelisk rounded on top to sort of resemble a fat
thumb. After visiting the thumb we continued on for another
half mile or so on the Lookout Trail and the Lookout. At
just under 3,900 feet, the lookout, while not nearly as rocky
as the earlier trails, provided an impressive view of northern
Phoenix and suburbs with the cheek by jowl houses in the
desert below. Returning along the Tom's Thumb trail, we
took a side trail for another couple of miles along the
Feldspar and Marcus Landslide trails to the site of the 2nd
largest landslide in Arizona which occurred some 500,000
years ago. Without the interpretive signs along the way,
there is no way I would have suspected that this was the
site of such a cataclysmic event since it looked a lot like
most of the other piles of rocks along the way. However,
we can now say we were there and saw it. After a total of
about 10 + miles of hiking, we drove back to the motel,
pleasantly tuckered from the day's exertions. Scottsdale
is to be commended for preserving so much of the natural
scenic beauty of the countryside within the city limits from
development.

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Photos

Mcdowell Sonoran Preserve
Along the Gateway Trail

Tom's Thumb Trail
Near the start of the trail to Tom's Thumb.

Tom's Thumb Trail
From along the trail.

The Thumb
Anne is in the trail approaching Tom's Thumb. Never did find out who Tom was.

At the Thumb
At the base of the Tom's Thumb.

North Scottsdale
From beneath Tom's Thumb.

Rock in a Rock
Interesting formation of a rock wedged in a boulder - along the Marcus Landslide Trail.

The Marcus Landslide
The outfall of the landslide is the lower section in the middle of the picture with a couple of boulders on top.

The Monkey or Ogre
Along the Marcus Landslide trail.

Balanced Rock
Along the Marcus Landslide trail.

A Toppled Mushroom
Along the Marcus Landslide trail. Saw several of these mushroom formations. The base eventually erodes enough to cause them to topple.