There are some good hiking trails at Lost Dutchman State Park. We hiked the Siphon Draw trail on a Saturday and it was really heavily used. We are not speed merchants along the trails as the dog like to smell everything. It is a good excuse to go slow. Additionally some sections of the trail at least the upper reaches of this trial are not well maintained and rather rocky and potentially slippery. The Siphon Draw trail leads eventually to Flatiron the top point in this area. Many people were headed there and many were on their way back. The scenery is beautiful regardless of how far you go. We climbed about 1250 feet to get up and into Siphon Draw.
This image is looking up and into Siphon Draw. You can see some of the hikers in the image. The trail is mostly rock at this point. As mentioned earlier it can be difficult hiking especially for us older folks. Along the trail we saw a young boy scout fall and an older gentleman trip over a rock. Neither was injured other than their pride but it is good to take it easy.
This picture shows the view looking back down where we came from. The view is down into and across Apache Junction. The sun had not gotten down into the canyon where we were and the temperature was pleasantly cool. There is no water available along any of the hikes so we need to take ample water for both us and the boys.
Here we are starting out on another trail, the Treasure Loop Trail. It has much more highly maintained trails. We climbed about 610 feet in elevation and also added a couple of other trails to make a nice 4 plus mile loop. Even thought we climbed a bit the trail condition was such that it was a much easier climb than the Siphon Draw trail. The big downside to Siphone Draw was coming back down, due to the rocks and gravel in the trail, here we had no such problem.
Again the scenery is beautiful. This is a panoramic shot near the top of the Treasure Loop Trail.
This image is of a rock formation called the Praying Hands and that name aptly describes the rock.
The hikes we went on were quite enjoyable and great exercise for both us and the boys.
Remember if your dog is overweight you are not getting enough exercise.
No comments:
Post a Comment