North Access Loop

Yesterday morning, Chris and I hiked what I call the North Access Loop (of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve). For those interested, we started at the North Access trail head and hiked up Tom’s Thumb Trail to the junction of East End Trail, turned left and headed down East End to the Windmill Trail junction; turned left on Windmill and continued to Coachwhip entering the Regional Park; stayed on Coachwhip to the Pemberton Trail; followed Pemberton around crossing back into the Preserve; took a spur over to the Marcus Landslide Trail and then back to the parking area. All in all, it’s just under 9 miles. Whew! So how long did it take? Just a few minutes over 4 hours. That’s slow for Chris but darned good for me considering the elevation gains. My Crossfit training is paying off 🙂

DroidX capture at start of descent on East End Trail. See how steep it is?!