Hikes in the foothills

 

While in Arizona we went on an adventure every day. Usually this entailed hiking to some place cool. Twice we went hiking in the hills. Once we drove up into the mountains on Constellation Road and left the car and went for a hike when the road got too sketchy for the rental car.  Another time we climbed a mountain near the house.  We've always called it 'Red Peak'.  This year we looked it up in a trail guide and I gather it is officially called 'Red Top'. Most of the photos in this post are from the latter hike.  The bottom three are from the Constellation Road hike.

Despite how close Red Peak is to the house this was the first time Polly had ever been to the top.  Last year Nora, Jack, Stuey and I had climbed it for the first time in ages (click here for post). I see that I wrote about it pretty extensively in last year's post. In any case, the trails to the mountain are maintained by the BLM as part of the 'Sophie's Flats' trail system. In the past we've always gone and climbed the far more crowded Vulture Peak.  It is certainly nice to have a nice trail and mountain climb so close to the house.  It is sort of like a 'mini' Vulture Peak but without the crowds.

Patrick

That's an operational gold mine down below us in the valley