Time for the Trailblazers to burn some calories before the potluck. [photo by Li]

Hong, Kelly, Jeff, Edith, Terry, Joyce, Li, Tom, Mike, Michael, Anna, Cindy, Vivian, Ron.

The annual awards potluck and hikes took place at the Phoenix North Mountain Park. We were lucky to have had two hikes that day, a shorter hike and this hike, led by Mike Nelson, which was approximately 8 miles long. Starting at our Yavapai Ramada, we quickly warmed up by ascending North Mountain on Trail #44.

Hike Prep. [photo by Tom]

Trailblazers at Trailhead. [photo by Ron]

By the time we reached the summit, most of us had shed at least one layer of clothes. At the top two “flag runners,” carrying American Flags, took our group picture with their flags. There were good views from the top of north central Phoenix.

Down hill. [photo by Ron]

Hills. [photo by Ron]

Group on the hill. [photo by Li]

We reversed direction and heading down, turned onto Trail 101 and into the interior of the park on Trail #100.

Mike in the lead. [photo by Ron]

At the junction with the 100 trail. [photo by Tom]

10-Shaw-Ron. [photo by Li]

Our next goal was Shaw Butte, west of North Mountain. Taking the Shaw Butte Trail (#306) we had a good climb to the summit with its forest of antennas. Among the antennas, we found a large cairn dedicated to veterans and took some pictures.

Cairn dedicated to veterans. [photo by Li]

Li, Tom at the top. [photo by Edith]

Terry, Vivian at the top. [photo by Edith]

We descended on Trail #306 and had good views of northern Phoenix. People with good vision could see the giant TSMC fab under construction off of I-17 and AZ-303. Because we had broken into small groups, some of us went from Trail #306 to Trail #100, while others headed towards the visitors center. However all of us made it back to our ramada, where the party had already begun. Members were busy eating the enormous variety of food that everyone had brought. After almost four hours of hiking, the potluck was delicious. Once we were sated, Tamar began the awards ceremony and we celebrated the award honorees.

Hungry Trailblazers. [photo by Tom]

Awards time. [photo by Tom]

Tamar giving out the awards. [photo by Tom]