Tom's Thumb

I kept seeing really cool pictures from the top of Tom's Thumb trail in the McDowell Mtns.  I asked Phil if he wanted 'in' and he was down for an early morning departure to experience some more new-to-him trails.  I had been on most of the route with the exception being the route up to Tom's Thumb.  We met up at the Lost Dog Wash TH and were pedaling by 5:40am.  The idea was to get a good warmup in before climbing up the bottom of Windgate Pass and on to Tom's Thumb Trail.  Our route consisted of: Lost Dog - > Quartz -> Paradise -> Gateway -> Desert Park -> Windgate -> Tom's Thumb. The return route would be the same minus Desert Park.

Riding around Desert Park, Tom's Thumb comes into view

Phil diggin' in

A very small break in the uphill climb

Are we there yet?

Got switchbacks?

Phil and I followed Tom's Thumb Trail up the canyon until it veers sharply to the right and kicks up steeply. He decided it was a good turnaround point for the day. I chose to push on to the summit not fully aware of the brutality of the climb to the top.  For me it was over an hour to go a little over a mile and about 90% HAB, but I had to see the top!

Even a picture shows the steepness of the grade.

Tom's Thumb (about 80 feet tall)

View from the top towards Scottsdale

Cool boulderfields at the summit

Coming to a desktop near you

On my way down I decided to count the switchbacks, I knew there were many but had no idea there were 28 in all.  Only took about 10 minutes to get back to the base of the steepness.  I was on a bit of a time crunch and it had taken me 4 hours to get from our start up to the summit. I had to get moving.  On my final descent down Gateway I heard something SNAP on the front of my bike. Oh no. My front wheel started making a loud repeated metal on metal sound. I stopped & walked around a bit looking for parts, it was that loud.  Finding nothing I kept moving.  I needed to stop by the Gateway TH to top off on water, since it was nearing 100º just after 11am, and I'd give the bike a more thorough scan.

At the TH I flipped the bike upside down and began investigating. Aha! Blown spring on the disc brakes was causing one of the brake pads to rub against the rotor.  Aside from the noise, everything was functional so off I went to knock out the last 5 miles.  I finally strolled back to the Lost Dog TH around 12:30p to find Phil had only been there about 15 minutes!  He made a wrong turn and took the pavement route back adding some bonus mileage.  It will be a fun ride to do again after it cools down, more exploring to do at the top.  I know Phil will want to get to the summit next time for sure.