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I'm thinking of taking the 247A trail way up and back. The mileage is about the same but I'm tired of hiking the other way. 16 miles RT, ~2500' AEG. Leaving Mesa at 5:30am.

I've got to check my social schedule with my wife. She has us going to all these charity Black Tie things. I'm heading off shortly to do a R2R2R and I'll touch base if I make it back. :stretch:

My plans are up in the air, but this interests me and it sort of works with my schedule.

Al_HikesAZ wrote:charity Black Tie things.

I usually try to make excuses to miss those...but I have a great one next week

Gee lets see..... if I went I could show the group where the helicopter landed to pick me up when I had my cardiac event on top of the mesa! Now if you were doing it on the one year anniversary of 12/17 I might consider. Still trying to figure out why I thought I was OK and thinking straight when I came down about a 1/4 mile off the top flat mesa then called 911 and had to have the helo direct me a few hundred yards to a somewhat flat spot to pick me up. Think I could do it....but I'd really slow the group down as I'm now restricting myself to a heart rate of 85% of maxium plus the wifey would really kill me! ;)

Still looking for someone to commit on this...

I'll commit to go. I've been itching to check out some ruins and the hike sounds perfect for this Sunday. I'll send you a PM to discuss meeting up.

I've checked the GPS routes posted and triplogs for this hike and I'm now considering bushwhacking down off the mesa to Trail 4. Looks to be a little shorter but I'm also wondering about how much more or less time this would take overall. Can anyone chime in whose done this before?

I'm interested...would have to drive down from Flagstaff, which requires permission from my better half.

I've bushwhacked off the back side of the mesa down to #4 a long time ago. I recall it was steep and had very tall grass that made it hard to hike as there were a lot of rocks under the grass. Not sure of the time ie more or less, but made a mental note not to do that again. Others have done it recently, maybe they will chime in.

@The Stillernator It's certainly doable yet it's very steep. Knowing you I don't think you'll like it, especially if you're still concerned about falling on your arm.

However I won't be there for you to blame on getting off trail since you'd be doing it intentionally so maybe you will like it.

@joe bartels

Is there any route that might be better (a little less steep and hairy), or is it all pretty much the same in that area? Steep by itself might not be that bad of an issue, but loose rocks and steep are definitely out for me.

@squatpuke

If you do make it down, just meet us at the trailhead, I suppose. Make sure to let us know or else we'll be heading out ASAP once we arrive. Gotta make it home for kickoff at 6:30pm or else I'll be re-enacting the "Wapner's on at 4 o'clock" scene from Rainman.

It's not scree but it's pretty loose. Seems like someone slipped and fell, maybe not. Sorry I don't know that area otherwise, that was my only hike.

Its pretty steep...since you can see the trail from the mesa, you can choose your route or choose not too go. The route I chose wasn't scree like, but it was brushy and cactusy.

I agree with Bob. You can take lunch up top at the wall and ponder if you see a route down you like. I think it was better as the loop but I've only done it that way. Have a great hike!

I'll have long pants and a sweatshirt on, so brushy and cactusy shouldnt bother me too much. i guess the key word I'm thinking of is treacherous. Would anyone use that word to describe the bushwhack?

It's not much in the brush department, it's more of not wanting to fall into the cactus.
Most off trail enthusiast probably enjoy it. Chris I've never know you to be an off trail enthusiast.
Like Bob said you'll know exactly what you're getting into once you're standing above it.

@joe bartels

But I did enjoy Soap Creek Canyon at 114 degrees. I am one day hoping to be able to tackle the Motherlode, but we'll see.

enjoy your hike