Against my own rules I decided to try out a group hike put on by HikeArizona.com
13 of us did the backpacking trip from the Tonto Fish Hatchery up the Rim and on to Knoll Lake.
The first mile is all uphill, 1200ft to be exact. Made it up in about an hour with some short stops. The rest was a breeze to the lake. Set up camp right off the water on the South end and then hiked solo halfway around the lake.
Did the campfire thing, someone brought a guitar, I went to bed sober.
I was one of two that went tentless. Had my sleeping bag plus liner and I threw a couple fire heated rocks in the bottom for just in case extra feet warmth. Got down to around 27° and was windy. I stayed warm all night. Some others even in tents weren't.
Would have been a perfect trip without the random wind coming off the lake at times. T-shirt was fine while hiking. Left a little before noon and three of us ate lunch at the Beeline Cafe.
Great camping spot. Will go back when warmer for sure and will probably just park up on the 300 and go in from there.
Glad to have a chance to test out some gear and some elevation.



Steep angle


Approaching the top




Oh you guys brought tents?


Pussies


Camp area




The Knoll


Another shot of camp


Hiking out

sexy

Very cool Mike, yeah the wind SUCKED up there all weekend.. when it wasn't blowing, tshirt and shorts were perfect... as soon as it picked up it felt like the temp dropped 20 degrees. I had the boat out on Knoll Friday morning and had to quit because the wind was blowing to hard.

Beautiful pics mike. looks like alot of fun

Thanks guys. I spent most of my daylight time just looking out over the lake forgetting it was Arizona.
Was a good time.

even though I am out of breath just from looking at the pics, thanks for lettimg me live through your adventures... LOL

were you using a diff lense or something on these pics? They seem brighter

Nope