Another weekend, another hike, another brewery. I must confess that we actually went to two breweries Saturday night on the western part of the Valley of the Sun. Carolyn and I put our Pub Pass and our Recoupon book into action and went to the Peoria Artisan Brewery for dinner and a craft beer. The food was excellent, service was great, and the beer was good. Nice setup with an outdoor patio. We split the “London Bridge” Beer Braised Beef | Brown Gravy |Mash | Peas & Carrots | Brioche plus a salad. It was awesome and we washed it down with a Kennett Farmhouse Ale. Great spot and just wish it was closer.

From there we went to the Throne Brewing Company Tap Room and Brewing Facility located in Peoria in a warehouse location. The Blood Orange IPA was excellent. The young lady working was fantastic and gave us lots of information about how Throne had bought out several breweries and rebranded just in time for the original Covid shutdowns but they are up and running and it was a great stop and end to our Saturday craft beer discovery day.

We got a late start on Sunday to our big 9.6 mile hike from the Gateway Trailhead in Scottsdale. Scottsdale has provided a great opportunity to explore the desert and the parking lots are packed. We head counterclockwise on our hike and there are many other hikers on the first part of our journey since there are multiple hikes and trails available. After three miles or so, there are few encounters with hikers until we are on our final stretch back to the trailhead. The hike is very rugged with plenty of rocks but the trail is in great shape. The desert scenery is fantastic with multiple viewpoints of the Four Peaks, and the city areas. It always amazes me that we can be so isolated but yet surrounded by several million people and still get to be out and alone. Out total elevation gains are over 2050 feet and coming down on trail is the tough part for me. Lots of wear and tear on the back, hips, knees. You can see all the way over to the Cardinal’s stadium. Our time on the trails are around 4.5 hours and the desert really is beautiful. No wildlife discovered today but one must always be aware of the snakes since these areas are noted for people seeing snakes in the spring and summer.

After finishing, we felt that we had earned another stop for a craft beer and headed to Loco Patron Brewery in North Scottsdale. Loco Patron has several Mexican food type restaurants but at this location they actually brew some of their own beers. Our server was fantastic out on the patio with a heater watching some Saints/Bears football. The seasonal “Holy Mole” was a nice dark ale and the “Local Gold” was also tasty. The tacos were very good and it’s happy hour all day on Sunday. Great finish to a great day hiking and great weekend of trying some new breweries.

Next stop is back in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve but this time we will be headed to Sunrise Mountain from Lost Dog WashTrailhead.