Weather can change plans. It did. With the forecast for rain to end some time in the morning, Bill cancelled the swing set hike. He offered a hike closer and shorter for the die-hards. The plan was to chat over coffee at Starbucks until the rain stops. Change. No chat. Starbucks was closed. After hasty introductions we headed out and at 8:45 boots were walking.

It was misty. We could not see our destination. Peak 3457 a.k.a. the “Shark Tooth” was wrapped in clouds. The off trail route starts past a few messy shooting venues. Soon we were dodging thorny bushes. There was room to avoid most. The ground was soft as one could feel the earth compress with each step. It was muddy. We had a few ups and downs before we did the big push.

On the way up David spotted some thing orange on the ridge we were about the climb. It was a steel plate target. Heavy. It was not there on Bill’s previous outings. The mist got thicker as we approached the summit. Steve commented, “It was O.K. we are in Arizona and it is a DRY mist.” Ha.

We took a food break at the top. At times the wind would clear the mist so we could see the valley below. It was feeling cold. After signing the guest book we headed down. We took a different route. It required picking our way around and over some large boulders.

Back at the cars we ended the hike and the year with a champagne toast.

6.0 miles +-1600 feet. Thanks to Steve and Mike for driving.