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| Hiking | 9.00 Miles |
2,335 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.00 Miles | 6 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.38 mph |
| 2,335 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Mingus the easy way, followed by Mingus the hard way.
I drove up Mingus Mountain on Saturday, stopping at the fire lookout tower, then camped up at the top at Mingus Campground. That was the easy part. A couple of drops of rain came when I was setting up my tent, but it was a beautiful night with plenty of stars once the clouds wore off.
The hard part came the next day. I got started at the Upper Trailhead (it would be silly to drive down to the other trailhead since I was so close to this one - right?) so the first part of the hike was downhill. At the trailhead, the hang gliders were staging to take flight. Too bad I had other plans, since that would've been a sight to see all those hang gliders in the air! Even though the first part of the hike was mostly downhill to the junction with FR 388, it was grueling since that sun was unrelentingly hot. When I came to that junction, I was unsure of which way to turn. The trip write-up didn't say to turn right or left up the trail, just to go north (that's the thing with doing one of these hikes backwards!). So which way to the cemetary, where I wanted to have lunch? I consulted with my forest map and it didn't have the forest road going any other direction, so left it was.
The sun was beating hard on me by this time, and I was ready to find a nice shady spot next to the cemetary, but I couldn't find the cemetary. I went past the spring (dry) and turned around when I was close to 89A. I had lunch and a tasty adult beverage under the shade of the large box elder tree. I figured I could get a shot of the cemetary on the way back up, but still, there was no sign of it. Maybe a tree had fallen over on it? There were some downed trees off to the right side on that section of the road.
The Jeep road (FR388) looked like fun if only I had a Jeep. As it was, without the cemetary, I found that whole section to be tedious and not very scenic. A few wildflowers, and not much in the way of shade. Just about the time that I started up again on Trail 105, the sun clouded over. Yay! It was joyous hiking back now! It started to rain, and then it rained harder with the rumbling of thunder overhead. By now I wondering about the intelligence of going UP a mountain during a thunderstorm. However, the rain let up and the thunder made its way in the distance. The storm clouds were looming, though, when I approached the saddle. It appears as though a wildcat route had been made going up to another smaller peak here in the opposite direction, but since the weather was still threatening, I decided against that bushwhack. Another time, perhaps. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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| There are just two switchbacks left. And another half-mile to the destination... |
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