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| Hiking | 10.88 Miles |
1,855 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.88 Miles | 4 Hrs 58 Mns | | 2.26 mph |
| 1,855 ft AEG | 9 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | First hike in the White Tank Mountains. Decided to take the loop counter-clockwise starting with Waddell, then Ford Canyon, and finishing with Mesquite Canyon. That was a good choice. Waddell is just a flat connector along the base of the mountains connecting the various canyon trails. Easy walking. Saw a horned toad which was pretty cool. It has been years since I last saw one of these. He posed for us and let me get several pictures. The Ford Canyon trail started out fairly level with just a gentle rise. This continued for a mile or two until we got to a scary looking warning sign saying that the trail beyond this point is hazardous! At first that seemed unwarranted, but then the trail started climbing. There were several places where the trail was steep boulders. Nothing too scary, but not something to try on a bike. The trail gained elevation quickly in this area and eventually ended up in going right up the granite waterfall.
For the next couple of miles the "trail" was really just the wash. It was either sandy or boulder-y and there were several little waterfalls along the way that had to be climbed. There were several places along the way that I thought that we were finally going to leave the wash but we kept following the wash. Yuck. Finally after way too long in the wash there was a real trail. Yay.
The rest of the Ford Canyon Trail was a regular trail heading up and out of the canyon and down the other side. Along this section the hillside was bright yellow with blooming brittlebrush. Very pretty. Also there were hedgehog cacti with pretty purple blooms. The cholla had buds that hadn't opened yet. After hiking down a ways the trail headed back uphill again. It leveled off once we got on the Mesquite Canyon Trail. It climbed a little at first, then gently went downhill. The trail got steeper in the last couple of miles. In the canyon it felt hot in the sun, but a lot of the trail had a pleasant cool breeze.
All in all a very pleasant day in a very nice area. Glad to finally hike the White Tank Mountains. |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
Not much at the bottom of the mountain, but once we got up a ways there was blooming brittlebrush and some orange and purple flowers. |
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