South Mountain - petroglyphs in plain site

Petroglyphs are abundant in South Mountain park. In fact there are many right near the parking lot at 48 st and Guadalupe.

Many near the 'desert classic' trail as well as the smaller trails on the other side http://fat-tire.net/trailviewer/trailDetails.aspx?ID=85 that I used to ride all the time when I lived in Chandler and mom lived in Ahwatukee.

There you will also find the 'Marcos De Niza' rock. It's been reported to chiseled there in 1539 by the famous father.
Marcos de Niza history http://southmountainhistory.blogspot.com/2008/06/city-to-protect-de-niza-rock-1191933.html
Many of the petroglyphs are even older. http://www.pbase.com/qleap/smp


This photo looks like trail 100 but the timestamp says desert classic. 'Desert Classic' is probably an even more popular trail than 100. The parking lot near the point always reminded me of a parking lot at ski resort. Everyone has a bike rack.

The Warpaint area is much less crowded, plus it has a nice trail that leads into 'Desert Classic'.


Here is a video of Steve and I returning to our trucks at the 'Warpaint' parking lot.







Many Saguaros in hidden valley and even on the west end of the desert classic trail.

The water tower is a popular resting spot, destination and 3.7 mile marker for mountain bikers on the 'desert classic' trail.

National trail is popular with Mountain bikers, but it's become a nice hike for me.

Here is Phil, he has the nickname of 'RestBreak Phil', but we got a good workout this morning in spite of all the breaks. I actually needed some rest breaks this morning. Phil has an interesting story about how he came to the US. He arrived by accident when he was eleven from Vietnam and couldn't go back. He was raised by his brothers. Anyway, that's his story. I would like him to start a blog of his own so he could tell it himself.