Finding Ramada 2 turned out to be a bit of a challenge. I think we all ended up going around the circle at least twice before finding the entrance. Once everyone found the ramada and we got our food dishes coordinated and plugged in, we turned the watch duty over to Barbara to keep an eye on our food. Thank you, Barbara! We gathered to take a group picture and do some small introductions.

After introductions, 35 Trailblazers hit the pavement around 8:30, headed for the first stop at Hunt’s Tomb with Mark in the lead and Michelle sweeping. Turns out we should have put Michelle in the lead and Mark as sweep. It wasn’t long before Mark took a wrong turn and continued on pavement when we should have been hitting the dirt. Michelle quickly got in touch with Mark, and the front group held up until Michelle could catch up and get the group going the right direction.

From here it was a short jaunt down the road before we found the trail and headed up for our first climb. It was a pleasant surprise to see a herd of bighorn sheep standing on the side of the mountain watching us as we approached Hunt’s tomb. After a few minutes of reading up on the history and taking pictures, the group moved on. We continued around the back side of the Papago Buttes behind the Phoenix Zoo fence line, where we encountered a few more bighorn sheep for close up pictures. We continued on behind the zoo, making our way around the edge of the mountains going up and down past the canal and over into another area of Papago Park.

As we enter this area there is a sidewalk trail and a dirt trail. Mark headed up the sidewalk for a short distance and decided he wanted to jump the railing to hit the dirt trail (he was supposed to hit the dirt trail to start with, imagine that). The railing was high and not so easy for everyone to jump over, so most of us followed the sidewalk up to where the railing ended. We then moved over to the dirt trail and climbed up over and through the Buttes and headed towards the tall electric pole and climbed up the hill next to the water tank. From here we have vast views of the urban infrastructure and populated areas surrounding us.

We descended along the fence line and around to another butte. There we gave the hikers the option to split off for a tougher route around the west side or take the easier route along the east side of the Butte. It wasn’t long before the east side hikers could hear the hooting and hollering of the west side hikers from atop the Butte. You always have your show offs!

After a short break, we got the group back together and made our way down to a culvert where we could pass from the north side of Curry Road to the south side. Here we headed west and took a loop around the Papago Park area between Curry Road and Loop 202. Along the way we passed some archaeological sites, including ancient Hohokam ruins. The loop took us around where we caught a glimpse of Tempe Town Lake before heading back down through the culvert and to the north side of Curry Road.

On Saturday January 19, 2019, our hiking club held our awards potluck and hike at Papago Park, Phoenix AZ. This jewel of the valley of the sun, mounted between Phoenix, Tempe, and Scottsdale and sharing borders with the Phoenix Zoo, has 360 degree scenery.

I was given a club award certificate and gas card as the number four carpool driver for 2018 at 3,178 miles in twelve trips. Yes, I won a hiking club award for driving! I was number 17 for hiking distance at 158 miles on 23 hikes.

John   

Actually, we found the golf clubs and picked them up along with several bags of trash that some of our dedicated hikers collected. No golf balls though. So, Chris hit the big ball.

The lines of rocks around Lin’s tee box are the footings of a prehistoric Papago pueblo. The mountain on the distant horizon is Camelback.

One white heron shared the lakes with many ducks who are migrating through or are permanent Zoo residents. This exquisite bird reflects well on the purity of the water in our wonderful tri city resource, Papago Park.

No visit to the park would be complete without a climb up Hole in the Rock. It was good to see Nancy back on the trails again. This was great to hike with so many good friends and many new members. A nice morning workout. Hopefully you will see photos of our excellent potluck dinner from others who took time out of chowing down, unlike me.