18 Trailblazers avoided the last minute Christmas shoppers and enjoyed a perfect day outside hiking the Marcus Landslide trail. The trail was named after Dr. Melvin Marcus, an ASU Geography Professor. Although the landslide is estimated to have occurred about 500,000 years ago, it was only recently discovered in 2002, by two ASU grad students. This is an interpretive trail, with plenty of signs along the way to help explain what factors may have occurred to cause this 2nd largest landslide in Arizona.

Check out the earlier trip report from our March 2012 Marcus Landslide hike for the details regarding the landslide.

We passed a few access routes for rock climbers along the trail, and enjoyed the many granite boulder formations formed by spheroidal and subsurface weathering. One odd coincidence was that after we saw a boulder formation in the shape of an anvil, we later saw an extremely large real-life anvil at Greasewood flats, where we ate lunch.

The views to the east were pretty and impressive, including Bartlett Dam, Four Peaks, Weaver’s Needle and the Superstition Ridgeline in the shadows, the Verde River glistening in the sun, and the snowcapped Mazatzal Mountains. The Verde River is one of the oldest rivers in Arizona. It runs 195 miles from southwest of Flagstaff into the Salt River east of Fountain Hills.

Hurry, take the photo — this thing is heavy!

It was right around this time when I was scooting across a rock and tore a small hole in my pants in an unfortunate location. Oops. Hey, never fear, duct tape to the rescue! Not exactly fashionable, but it did the trick, and earned me the nickname “Patches.” Later, Rudy even applied a similar piece to his hind quarter just as a ‘sympathy’ patch. Twins! Well, we do share the same birthday anyway, albeit 20 or so years apart.

Lunch at Greasewood Flat.

Many of us continued on to Greasewood Flat afterwards for lunch. I think I found a great contender to finally challenge my ranking of best pulled pork sandwich (up until now, the Horny Toad in Cave Creek had my top vote)! Some of us stayed a little bit longer until the live music started and a few Trailblazers enjoyed a little dancing.