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| Hiking | 4.40 Miles |
415 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.40 Miles | 2 Hrs 16 Mns | | 1.94 mph |
| 415 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | | I started at the 40th Street Trailhead intending to do the balloon loop in a counterclockwise direction as described in Charles Liu's "60 Hikes within 60 Miles" (love the book!). Starting out on Trail 8 it would connect with Trail 304, then Trail 8B and then finally 8A. The thing that stands out about this hike is all the crisscrossing trails and forks in the road. There was one point early on where Trail 8 makes a right turn and there was a marker but it did not have the trail ID sticker on it. This was on the section just before the trail drops into the wash. At that point there was another marker that showed I was in the right spot, where Trail 8 met Trail 8A. Whew! Lacking a GPS (coming soon!) there was a slight feeling of trepidation on this hike. I could see how someone could get lost in the Preserve if they weren't paying attention. Fortunately that happened to me only once and only very briefly. After connecting with Trail 304, near a saddle and nice views of the city and the Piestewa Peak parking area, the trail connected with 8B. It was while climbing in this area that I took a false trail. The trail ended at a rocky climb which I scaled to find another trail. Hiking on this for perhaps one hundred feet it ended and then I looked up to see the real trail just several feet up the hillside. Whew! Next this trail led to another saddle where a few people were gathered at a bench. This was the trail that came off 32nd Street. After a short conversation with the folks I continued down the hill and found Trail 8A. From here on the hiking was fairly easy and then I met up with the wash again where Trail 8A meets Trail 8. From that point it was pretty straightforward where to go. Nice hike. A little strenuous in spots. I figured I hiked about 4.4 miles r/t since I average a little over two miles per hour. |
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