Visible near the center of the above photo is Tom's Thumb, a prominent landmark in the Scottsdale's McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Located along the eastern border of Scottsdale, this 14,000 acre park contains hiking trails, rock climbing areas and a huge variety of plants and animals. Early settlers in the Salt River Valley had little appreciation for the desert, considering all of the unihabited areas to be "wasteland." Preservation of these former wastelands has almost come too little and too late. There are only a few areas around the Salt River Valley where the natural Sonoran desert is still in its original condition. Although the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is crossed by mining roads, now long abandoned, it is still a good example of how the desert looked in earlier, less settled times.
As you can see from the photo, the "wilderness" around the greater Phoenix area directly abuts the development. The wilderness itself is its own transitional area. You step directly from paved subdivision roads into the designated wilderness park. Although it may not appear to be either rugged or very steep in the photo, the Tom's Thumb butte is at 3,925 above sea level. It is not unusual for the snow level to descend to about 4000 feet, making the McDowell Mountains on of the few places to see snow on cold winter's days after a storm.
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