…with a side trip to Andrews-Kinsey trail.
This is what 50% of the trail looked like from the trailhead to the peak. Is there a rattler in the shade of that rock?
As you might remember, I’m training to summit Humphreys Peak in June. So I’ve been hiking twice weekly, mostly on Pinnacle Peak Trail and Tom’s Thumb Trail. My longest trek thus far has been seven miles. I plan to walk some longer distances and/or carry more weigh in my backpack in the coming weeks. Lately I’ve added a 10-lb dumbbell to my pack.
Yes, this is the trail. From the trailhead to the peak, 10% of it looked like this. You need good footwear for this.
Yesterday I started at the Sunrise Trailhead, made it to Sunrise Peak in about an hour, then walked over to the Andrews-Kinsey trail and followed for about a mile before turning around and heading back to the car. Total trip was about six miles over three hours. I carried the 10-lb dumbbell in my backpack, plus water.
3/4 of the way to the peak, looking down at the trailhead near houses.
Sunrise Trailhead to the peak is a difficult trail by most standards. Steep, rocky, unrelenting. You gain about 1,1000 feet of elevation. My pace was only 1.8 miles per hour. Approaches from Ringtail Trailhead and 136th Street Trailhead are quite likely less steep, but more miles to the peak.
A view of Scottsdale from Sunrise Peak
The Andrews-Kinsey trail was relatively flat, mostly gravel, and had good views. Didn’t see another soul on it.
From the pictures, you can tell there’s not much shade on this hike. What you cannot see is that the mountains themselves will provide shade for this entire trip if hiked in the late afternoon.
Looking north from Sunrise Peak. These are the McDowell Mountains. Note the trails.
I saw a snake on this trip, just got a brief glimpse of it a foot and a half from me and he was truckin’. It was about 1.5 inches thick, and I’m guessing four feet long. Didn’t look like a rattlesnake. Maybe a bull snake.
I was on the trail at 0740 hrs and was glad to be done three hours later when the temperature was in the upper 80s Farenheit.
I last did this trail in 2013. I didn’t put it in that trip report, but I remember it being particularly grueling, having started at Ringtail trailhead and going to Sunrise trailhead then back to our starting point, a total of 10 miles and 2,000+ vertical feet of elevation.
Advanced Mediterranean Diet 