Hiking the Tom's Thumb-East End-Windmill-Windgate Pass Loop

I headed out yesterday to Tom's Thumb Trailhead for my most ambitious hike since arriving in Arizona at the beginning of the year. I got started a little later than planned and paid the price in the way of trail traffic for roughly the first 1.5 miles. Even with a seemingly never-ending series of switchbacks, it is a steep climb to the junction of the Tom's Thumb and East End trails. The trail is also narrow in many places, causing congestion akin to what we experience when we're trailing a Sunday driver on a two-lane highway and unable to pass due to the barrage of oncoming traffic.

Hikers were few and far in-between along the East End Trail. The trail was rocky and was leading me back downhill. Silly me, I expected to maintain all that elevation I'd just worked so hard to achieve! Instead, it was down, down, down so that the only thing missing was a burning ring of fire. By the time I reached the Windmill Trail, I'd given back 1,041 feet in elevation.

View from East End Trail

After just a tenth of a mile, the Windmill Trail gives way to the Windgate Pass Trail, which turned out to be the least demanding portion of the 10-mile loop. In fact, the hiking along this section was quite pleasant indeed. A fairly remote part of the Preserve, the traffic along this trail was minimal.

Windgate Pass Trail

Two miles later, Windgate Pass connects with the southern terminus of Tom's Thumb. For a short while, Tom's Thumb was merely a continuation of the leisurely hiking I'd been enjoying for the last 2+ miles. Then, Dr. Jekyll morphed into Mr. Hyde. It was up, up and away, but there was no beautiful balloon carrying me to the top. This was basically a repeat of what I'd done earlier on the other side of the mountain. The only difference was that it was now afternoon, and there weren't nearly as many people on the trail.

Once again at the top, I was relieved to be coming down the mountain for the last time. By now, however, the descent was proving more painful than the ascent. One mile to go . . . a half-mile to go . . . these trail markings indicating such small incremental differences wasn't helping my mindset any down the stretch. Much like when I run, I just wanted this thing to be over.

Happy days were here again when I reached the pavilion at the trailhead and took a load off in the shade for a few moments. Now, I can't say I won't hike this loop again, but it might be a while before I do so. This is certainly what I would consider a strenuous hike. My single piece of advice for improving upon my experience is to avoid the large crowds heading up the mountain from the trailhead by getting started early in the morning.