Tom's Thumb Hike - McDowell Mtn. Preserve - Scottsdale, AZ

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Driving out to this location looked a lot like we were headed to no mans land.  At some points of the road a 4 wheel drive would have been nice - but slow & steady we made it to the trail head just off of 128th & Dynamite.  Since my hiking partner used to rock climb on this "big rock" it was something he really wanted me to see.  The trail had changed it's path since his rock climbing days so it was a new adventure for both of us.  The hike starts out with a steady uphill grade right away and felt like switchbacks to me.  It did eventually level out to give us a break before the "real" switchbacks began.  The one thing that really struck me was the quietness of this area.  No traffic sounds, no sirens just quiet.  It was so peaceful and tranquil just the occasional crunching sounds of our boots along the trail.

We met a very nice hiker named Tim along the way and he assured us the path we were taking would get us to Tom's Thumb.  After some stories shared about how the valley has changed over the years and how so many hiking areas are being over taken by developers building homes we continued on our way.

We opted to take the Rock Climbers trail in order to get up close to Tom's Thumb and all was going well until bam - there we were at a dead end staring at these gigantic boulders with no trail to be seen.  We could see Tom's Thumb protruding just beyond these large rocks but how do we get there?  You guessed it climb over, in and around them.  Which is exactly what we did.  We did get past these obstacles and there it stood so majestically before us. What a great sight.  Here is this massive rock that when driving down the 101 you see as a small protrusion jutting out at the top of the mountain.  But seeing it up close is so unbelieveable making you feel so small standing next to it. 

Tom's Thumb

We sat there enjoying the quietness with the exception of an occasional birds wings flapping over head as they caught the draft of the breeze flying as if they were giving us a private show of their skill and trapese like flying.  It was quite entertaining. 

All the while I'm thinking do I have to climb over, through and around those boulders to get back?  But alas, no that was not the path to get back - there before us arrived a hiker on the trail that we should have taken so I was relieved to know my rock climbing skills for this hike were over.  Whew!

We took the proper trail back and discovered where we turned the wrong direction but it was an honest mistake as it was not clearly marked, again this was a Rock Climber's trail not a hiking trail that most hikers would tackle.

The hike down was a lot of steep down hill hiking.  Since I had really hurt my toes (lost 6 toenails) on a major hike about a month ago this was not much fun for me.  I slowly and painfully managed to make it all the way down.  Top of my priority list - NEW HIKING BOOTS that didn't hurt my toes. 

With the proper boots that I now have I would definitely do this hike again or take another trail at this location.