HAPPY THANKSGIVING..........Hike Profile: mcdowell mountain superloop!

Happy Thanksgiving to any of you out there that actually check out my blog!  This morning I needed to take some "me" time to go off on a new hiking adventure.  So, I figured out a nice long loop in the McDowells, threw on my shoes, and hit the trail.  The hike started at the Gateway Trailhead.  I started off on the Gateway loop, then linked that to the Windgate Pass trail, which intersected the Tom's Thumb trail, which lead me to the East End trail, which dead-ended into the Bell Pass trail, which finally brought me back to the Gateway loop and the trailhead.  I estimate the total mileage to be around 12 miles, and the whole loop gains about 3000 feet over the course of the entire hike.  There are many of these "superloops" you can create in the McDowells, but this one looked most appealing.  The weather was perfect today, which is typical in Phoenix this time of year.  So under blue skies, with the Ipod fully charged, I knocked this hike out in just under 3 and a half hours.  Cruisin baby.  Now, I feel no regret about stuffing my face full of thanksgiving dinner.

Hike Profile: windgate pass trail

          In the McDowell Mountains, the hike combinations are almost endless.  This particular hike starts at the Gateway trailhead, and follows the Gateway Loop for a while, until it intersects the Windgate Pass trail, ultimately taking you to your destination of Windgate Pass.  Windgate Pass is a saddle between the north side of McDowell Peak, and the East End ridgeline.  This is another truly great hike in the McDowells.  The roundtrip distance is just shy of 8 miles, and the elevation gain is well over 1000 feet, possibly even approaching 1500 feet.  The Gateway trailhead has a ton of information on the hike, including a topographic map detailing all of the trails in the area.  You could branch off in so many different directions, or even create your own loop by linking together several of the trails.  To access the trailhead, just head east on Bell Road, east of the 101, until you hit Thompson Peak Parkway.  Hang a left at the light, and the trailhead is about a mile up the road on the right hand side.  If you haven't ventured into the McDowells yet get a move on it!

Working hard to realize the dream.....

Just a quick update:  life has been crazy busy lately with all the work going on around here.  I've begun training for the half marathon in January, but other than that, the usual training has been lighter than usual to compensate for all the extra work we're doing.  My part time job consumes a lot of the weekend, and my full time job has a lot of special projects in the works, so that takes up my week.  We've had visitors popping in and out of our condo the last few weeks, which has been nice, but it causes even more work.  Lacie is working on getting her "cake side project" up and running, so I've been involved in helping her get that started.  We also threw a halloween party, so of course we had to do nice food for that.  With the holidays coming up it's been a challenge figuring out who's going to be where, and trying to make sure everyone's feelings are taken into consideration there, which has the usual drama attatched to it.  It's just been plain busy.....but hopefully all of it is pulling me closer to the ultimate goal of raising the money I need to climb my mountain.  The remainder of 2009 should be pretty quiet in "The Endurathon world", but 2010 has a lot of excitement just around the corner.  Stay tuned.....