At the Top

This post is for all the hikers who DID make it to the top of Picketpost Mt. and for those who almost made it AND for the group who knew better than to try!

 A chilly but sunny morning for a 2000' climb to the top of Picketpost Mt.

 Dennis puckering (?) for the camera. I heard Dennis had kisses for the women who made it to the top...

 Climbing over boulders, looking for the trail amongst the cholla

 Kent's first time on Picketpost

 Joe stopped to make a snowman

Yes, there was some snow

 Gary and Tom. This was also Gary's first trip to the top.

 Dennis and Moe

 Jerry, the leader for this hike

Joe, Tom, Jim, Gary, Bonnie and Katie. I wonder if Katie and Bonnie got their kisses?

Curt and his 'hard to miss' hiking shirt at the mailbox on the top of Picketpost.

Preparing to head back down, picking their way amongst the prickly pear and cholla

 2000' is a long way down...

 The west side of Picketpost

 It must have warmed-up because Katie is without a coat

 This photo shows part of the mountain region that burned last summer

 Curt's fourth trip to the top of Picketpost.

 The bottom trunk of this saguaro shows where the fire affected it. The top part looks healthy.

 Some of the trees and bushes that didn't fair well in the fire.

 This saguaro didn't survive.

You can also see how dry it has been because there is no green growth on the desert floor.

 A majestic site, conquered by a dozen brave souls.


Photos and post from last season's hike; January 2011, titled 'A Horizontal and a Vertical Hike'

Lunch at the Cullinary School

Our CV Red Hat group made reservations to have lunch at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.

 

We were in downtown Scottsdale, a shopping mecca of unique and interesting shops & merchandise. I will show some of that in another post.

We rode the escalator up to Technique, the restaurant for the culinary college students.

I wish I had taken a photo of our table setting. Two knives and a spoon on the right; two forks on the left; a fork & spoon placed above. I knew what to do with all the cutlery, but wasn't sure which bread plate was mine...right or left? I learned left because my table mate to the right worked in hotel restaurant service for many years.

 Our bread basket (we had three flavors of butter for sampling)

 My starter: Watermelon, Mache and Arugula Salad – with goat cheese, kalamata olives, red onions, mint, red wine vinaigrette dressing

Very light and refreshing.

My entree choice:  Pork Schnitzel – served with braised red cabbage, spaetzle with sauce charcuterie

It was very tasty. The only surprise was the horseradish hidden beneath.

What I chose for desert:  Salted Caramel Pot de Crème – with Chantilly cream and almond sable cookie

Also very yummy. 

  

This was my reaction to the experience:

 

Just one of several quotes on the ceiling beams of the college, but this was my favorite.

I will share other choices of our group in another post.

Fog in AZ???

Sunday morning we awoke to an unusual phenomenon for AZ...FOG. In the six winters we have been here, we have seen very little fog. Smog, yes. Dust storms, yes. But rarely fog. There usually isn't enough moisture in the air to produce fog when warm air and cold air do their colliding & dancing. The humidity has been higher than usual, too.

This is looking south from our house.

This is looking northeast from the neighbor's deck, this is a good spot to view the Superstition Mts.

Looking east to the neighboring community of Gold Canyon Golf & RV Resort,

and looking west.

It had burned off around 10:00. There were some rain drops that fell, but mostly a cloudy, damp day in the high 50s.

A Hike Not for the Faint of Heart

Sixteen CVHC hikers left on a chilly Friday morning for Boulder Canyon and Lower LeBarge Narrows near Canyon Lake in the Superstition Mts. I have done the 5 mile Boulder Canyon hike a couple of times. The first hill is the worst part.

 When you get to the hilltop, you look back to Canyon Lake, one of four lakes along the Salt River project.

This cliff is the end of the trail for me. In the background is battleship and behind it, Weaver's Needle. (See the Fremont Saddle hike for more pictures of Weaver's Needle.)

 The river bed (wash) winding through the canyon floor leads to Lower LeBarge Narrows, the destination of Friday's hike. (Same view on photo posted in February 2009, Wednesday's Hike. They only hiked to the Boulder Canyon lookout in Feb. 2009.)

 Chino was along on this hike. Notice the size of the rocks in the mostly dry river bed.

Some of the hikers checked out the stone walls and foundation of a long-ago abandoned cabin.

 Chino found a swimming hole.

Saguaros lining the canyon slope.

 Some fall color along the river bed.

 Notice the change in the size of the boulders and the flat rock surface.

One of the canyon walls in Lower LeBarge Narrows. See the hikers in the lower left? they give a perspective to the size of the canyon walls.

 Lunch break at the end of the trail. Now they all turn around and head back five or so miles and climb 900' to get out of the canyon.

 More boulders to traverse.

 And finally, about seven and a half hours later...

back to the beginning. There were some very tired hikers.

Tour of a Mansion

This is the second or maybe third year the Red Hat group has participated in The Christmas House tour. Each year the Desert Club of The Christmas House has a different large home to host a tour and display hundreds & hundreds of for sale Christmas items. The family moves out of the home for a week and club members decorate the home and host a Friday night and Saturday tour.

This is the first time I have gone along on the tour. I put my little camera in my purse thinking, this will be so cool. Pictures of a 5 bedroom, 6 and a half bathrooms home in a gated community in a pecan groove. Photography was not permitted.

 The range hood in the kitchen was almost as large as my bathroom. The kitchen had 2 islands, the length of my kitchen at home. There were two refrigerators and two dishwashers. However, when I looked through the glass window of the pantry door, I could see into the glass-doored cupboards. I saw a package of Oreo cookies. I felt better.

The 7000 sq. foot home had many small rooms on the main level. It was not an open floor plan. There were four bedrooms upstairs; we saw two of them. On the main floor the master bedroom and bath, the 'man cave', the music room, the living room, the foyer, the dining room and kitchen were all open for the tour. A sunken fire pit and a swimming pool were off the kitchen near the patio where a flat screen TV was on the wall.

The curved staircase is in the turret. When we arrived the staircase was lined with singers in period costume singing jazzy Christmas music. A very talented group of high school kids entertained from the upper level and staircase and then outside on the patio.

We parked our cars amongst the pecan trees in the grove. I would think a couple hundred people were touring within the house at any one time this morning. I purchased a can of vanilla hot chocolate and Mexican hot chocolate. Many of the Christmas decorations were reasonably priced. There was a cute set of the Three Wisemen near the front door. They were cone-shaped, made of metal and maybe 40 inches tall. They were marked sold. The price on each one was $550. The same person bought all three, naturally. I was afraid to take a picture, but they were cute.

Visit this website to get an idea of some of the houses in past years and the for sale Christmas decorations and items: http://christmasideahouse.org/sites/cih/