Hike Report
Thumb Butte, Prescott Arizona
September 05, 2010
Got up a little late and was not moving very fast, but eventually got the car rollin out the garage at about 10:30.
Yeah, she looks a little crazed doesn't she? "Born to be Wild" came on the radio right at that moment and I got into the "road trip" feelin! Enjoyed the drive up to Prescott, forgot how pretty it was. Stopped in Rock Springs, hadn't stopped there in a long time, and bought some Prickly Pear Jelly and Cherry jam with NO SUGAR ADDED, homemade, whoo hooo.
The minute I walked up to the trail I knew I was in trouble. I had already started breathing heavy. I had forgotten that Prescott is a higher altitude than Phoenix. The air smelt beautiful and clean though, and the pine scent uplifted me.
This is me being scared. Well the hike up was really hard. I had to stop a lot and rest. My heart rate went way up. I sometimes could do only 10 steps and then rest. I decided I would at least get to the bench that I had turned back at before, and then I would go a little further and then if I had to give up, at least I could say I went further the second time.
As you know, I tried to do this hike some years ago with my daughter, but was too intimated to get up the steep, and had turned back and waited for her in the parking lot.
After I reached the bench, I kept on going short spurts, just up a little more to that next spot, then stopping when my heart and breathing got too fast. My heart rate at this time was going between the 130s and down to the 120s so sometimes I would rest til it got in the more reasonable 110s or so. By this method, I made it to the second bench!
Here I am looking awesomely pleased with myself. It was sometime after this point that my body caught up with what my mind was trying to do... "OH! you want me to go up this MOUNTAIN! All right." Then it was still steep, still had to rest and go in spurts but the heart rate evened out and I got pretty happy with the whole process!
Note to self: It would be good to warm up a little before hitting a steep climb!
There weren't a lot of flowers! But I took some pics of a few wildflowers on the way up!
Everyone I met was very pleasant and said "hi". But a lot of folks were going up the path I was going up and coming back down the same way. I started fearing the path was NOT a loop, but I was pretty sure it was a loop... but even if it were NOT, I thought, well, I will just try to find the top and then go back down. By this time I was thinking... I could do it, and I was thinking, pretty good for a fat girl!
In not too long a time, I had rounded the top! I was fairly amazed at this point. There was a trail that goes up to the actual top of the butte, but I was all like "oh lets leave SOME challenge for next time!" lol. And I began the descent which was easier, but rather long.
The sky was lovely! Oh this is a little pine cone in the sun! I thought it was pretty cute!
On the descent, near the top were a bunch of prickly pear, and they were in bloom. Made me glad I bought some jelly!
Also on the descent, the forest had a lot of clear cutting done recently. This is done because healthy forests need a lot of clearing. In olden days nature forest fires would take care of that process, but now we don't want forest fires because people live to close, so the forest service goes in and clears trees.
I wondered why they had two gates, one open and one you would've had to twirl through if the other one was closed. These are because they used to graze cattle on these lands. Although they hadn't for a while, this gate would keep cattle in the grazing range, and let humans have access!
In the parking lot I took a little picture of this sunflower for y'all. My time for the hike was actually 2 hours and 10 minutes, which surprised me because the online information said it was about a 2 hour hike, and I thought I had gone quite slowly. They must've had the time wrong, because I'm pretty sure my daughter had done it in much less than 2 hours!
I wore sunflower earrings today too! I later went down to Prescott and walked around the square where there was an art fair, but my feet were a bit tired from this 3.3 miles hike, with steeps at the beginning, but beauty all the way through! I found a little restaurant that served crepes by the square and had a Spinach Recota Tomato crepe that was quite lovely. The drive back seemed very fast and I am looking forward to re-dong this hike sometime.
This hike was rated as "moderate" it is my first graduation from "easy" hikes to "moderate"!
Thumb Butte, Prescott Arizona
September 05, 2010
Got up a little late and was not moving very fast, but eventually got the car rollin out the garage at about 10:30.
Yeah, she looks a little crazed doesn't she? "Born to be Wild" came on the radio right at that moment and I got into the "road trip" feelin! Enjoyed the drive up to Prescott, forgot how pretty it was. Stopped in Rock Springs, hadn't stopped there in a long time, and bought some Prickly Pear Jelly and Cherry jam with NO SUGAR ADDED, homemade, whoo hooo.
The minute I walked up to the trail I knew I was in trouble. I had already started breathing heavy. I had forgotten that Prescott is a higher altitude than Phoenix. The air smelt beautiful and clean though, and the pine scent uplifted me.
This is me being scared. Well the hike up was really hard. I had to stop a lot and rest. My heart rate went way up. I sometimes could do only 10 steps and then rest. I decided I would at least get to the bench that I had turned back at before, and then I would go a little further and then if I had to give up, at least I could say I went further the second time.
As you know, I tried to do this hike some years ago with my daughter, but was too intimated to get up the steep, and had turned back and waited for her in the parking lot.
After I reached the bench, I kept on going short spurts, just up a little more to that next spot, then stopping when my heart and breathing got too fast. My heart rate at this time was going between the 130s and down to the 120s so sometimes I would rest til it got in the more reasonable 110s or so. By this method, I made it to the second bench!
Here I am looking awesomely pleased with myself. It was sometime after this point that my body caught up with what my mind was trying to do... "OH! you want me to go up this MOUNTAIN! All right." Then it was still steep, still had to rest and go in spurts but the heart rate evened out and I got pretty happy with the whole process!
Note to self: It would be good to warm up a little before hitting a steep climb!
There weren't a lot of flowers! But I took some pics of a few wildflowers on the way up!
Everyone I met was very pleasant and said "hi". But a lot of folks were going up the path I was going up and coming back down the same way. I started fearing the path was NOT a loop, but I was pretty sure it was a loop... but even if it were NOT, I thought, well, I will just try to find the top and then go back down. By this time I was thinking... I could do it, and I was thinking, pretty good for a fat girl!
In not too long a time, I had rounded the top! I was fairly amazed at this point. There was a trail that goes up to the actual top of the butte, but I was all like "oh lets leave SOME challenge for next time!" lol. And I began the descent which was easier, but rather long.
The sky was lovely! Oh this is a little pine cone in the sun! I thought it was pretty cute!
On the descent, near the top were a bunch of prickly pear, and they were in bloom. Made me glad I bought some jelly!
Also on the descent, the forest had a lot of clear cutting done recently. This is done because healthy forests need a lot of clearing. In olden days nature forest fires would take care of that process, but now we don't want forest fires because people live to close, so the forest service goes in and clears trees.
I wondered why they had two gates, one open and one you would've had to twirl through if the other one was closed. These are because they used to graze cattle on these lands. Although they hadn't for a while, this gate would keep cattle in the grazing range, and let humans have access!
In the parking lot I took a little picture of this sunflower for y'all. My time for the hike was actually 2 hours and 10 minutes, which surprised me because the online information said it was about a 2 hour hike, and I thought I had gone quite slowly. They must've had the time wrong, because I'm pretty sure my daughter had done it in much less than 2 hours!
I wore sunflower earrings today too! I later went down to Prescott and walked around the square where there was an art fair, but my feet were a bit tired from this 3.3 miles hike, with steeps at the beginning, but beauty all the way through! I found a little restaurant that served crepes by the square and had a Spinach Recota Tomato crepe that was quite lovely. The drive back seemed very fast and I am looking forward to re-dong this hike sometime.
This hike was rated as "moderate" it is my first graduation from "easy" hikes to "moderate"!
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