There’s like five Thumb Butte hike descriptions on HikeArizona, most of which describe various connector trails. Despite that, there are even more trails — numbered and otherwise — out there than are listed here. I am not entirely sure what numbers we were on. Even after I post my route, it won’t reveal numbers as MyTopo is mostly dashed line free.
Anyway, @PrescottStyle and I started off from somewhere west of the Prescott Shopping Center on Gurley St. We took a trail past several holes of the abandoned Troon golf course. And Paul — who knows an amazing amount of Prescott gossip — filled me in on who owned it, how they went broke, etc. He also knows plane models, minerals, trees, animals. Blows my mind! 
So, we wandered up to Thumb Butte itself, but the summit is closed until July 15 due to peregrine falcon nesting. (Which, if I was Hindu, would be what I would choose to reincarnate as.) No big deal, great views of the Prescott area were had, including several peaks I plan on hiking this summer: Mount Tritle, Maverick Mountain, Mount Davis & Mount Union, etc. We may even do Little Granite and Granite Mountain, as the first anniversary of that fire is next month. Lots of beetle damage could be seen west of town.
Paul had some beer which he shared, and at 6.0% I could actually feel the effect for about 10 minutes. 
The first four miles flew by, which is rare, and we eventually ended up finishing exactly at noon. AEG was barely noticeable.
There were lots of cars heading north on I-17, and lots of cops along AZ-69 and I-17 as well. Just on the south bound lanes, I saw five DPS cruisers between Cordes Junction and Deer Valley Rd. Guess they are getting an early start on this weekend’s quota of drunks …
Distance: 9.20 mi.
AEG: 1,570 ft.
Time: 3h 26m
Hike Video
Hiking Thumb Butte, Prescott National Forest from Preston McMurry on Vimeo.
