| | -
-
-
-
-
-
| 1 label |  |
|
|
-
-
-
-
| 1 label |  |
|
|
-
-
-
-
-
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 4.55 Miles |
798 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.55 Miles | 2 Hrs 43 Mns | | 1.67 mph |
| 798 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | I knew last night we would only have around 4 hours to spare for a hike, so I wanted something close, yet not something different. I dug around to trying to locate a hike I had run across in a triplog not too long ago but I couldn't find it by location "Mesa NE" and I couldn't remember the name. Finally I tried searching under Phoenix NE and found it. (I dropped a PM to Joe B and he promptly moved it to the correct location. Thanks Joe!) 
A quick hop over the rail and we were off. The trail was easy to follow and the ground was stable until we dropped down into a wash, where the ground was mostly small gravel or sand. Much of it was soft enough it was easy to kick sand up and in the case of Tracey, into her shoes. So it wasn't long and she was wishing she wore the Teva's again. She's been hesitant about joining the official hiking with Teva's crowd, but if this keeps up, it won't be long. Besides, the socks just don't look as stylish as they did with the Teva's.
(Note: See Second Water photos for those who missed them and/or compare with todays' foot gear shot I'll post in the photoset)
Not far out we came upon a metal fenced area next to what I thought may be a weather station. We left the trail to go over and check it out. We were about to cross the wash when I spotted something in a Palo Verde tree that seemed to glint with a blue tint, and I thought, here we go again, another Bud Light can!  But upon closer inspection, it was something I would never expected to find on the trail. Or in this case, off the trail! A 16-pack of (brand shall remain nameless) condoms! Actually, 8 two-packs held together by a pony-tail band. For someone planning on getting lucky...  well... this time they sure didn't. 
Ok, enough about that... back to the fenced area... it turned out to be a Maricopa County Flood Control Station. Interesting. It had a large area covered in sheet metal to collect rain, drain it into a trough, through a pipe and into a reservoir. I suppose it's a more accurate way to measure rainfall. It appears data would be collected and sent over the air from the tower with antenna next to the fenced area. The tower appeared to have been vandalized, the lock hasps having been smashed. We didn't notice any damage to whatever kind of unit was inside, so I just took a few photos and we got back to our hike.
Plenty of cool things to photograph so much of the time I was wasting off the beaten path. I climbed to the top of a spire along the way for a better view and a bunch of photos while Tracey continued on toward our destination. I did that often enough I was continually jogging along to catch up again. Once we got within 350' of our destination and noted the GPS route went on a ways before it turned hard left and then tracked back up, we thought, what for? With no good answer we headed straight toward where I expected the Mask to be. Most of that 350' was vertical so we worked up a sweat fast. As we came to the saddle, there it was! The rock had two eye-openings like a mask, although there was a Saguaro cactus poking through one eye. I took a number of photos from a variety of angles and it was time to head for home.
Due to my curiosity we had not followed the HAZ posted route on the way out. So in hopes of finding more cool things to photograph we took the posted route back. Good thing we did... well, maybe not... Sure, if we didn't, I wouldn't have gotten some cool stagnant water photos, but then I wouldn't have bloodied up my other knee  (see 12/25 Mt Peeley triplog) nor would I have smacked my camera lens against the rocks. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") It was one of those deals where on the way down, you think... should I save the camera or myself? Ok now, save myself, but still try to protect the camera. Whoa Nelly! Now it looks like it's going to be broken bones if I don't forget about the camera... so I do... I avoided falling into a sharp crevice only by a taking hard hit on both elbows and the left knee while the camera took a solid hit. Yep, I was carrying it turned on with the lens extended. 
I held my breath while I checked to see it it still worked. Yes! It did!  Sure, part of the plastic around the end of the lens was chewed up and I had to scrape a piece off so it would close, but it worked perfectly. Of course I wasn't sure of that until I returned home. It worked well enough I ended up with 112 photos... and plenty of work to weed it down to a manageable number to post on HAZ, and 90% of them on my own web site:
http://www.changephoenix.com/10/2010-12-27TheMask.html
So as you can see, (and Tracey knows very well by now) every hike with me is an adventure of some kind... although I'm usually the one who has the hazardous adventure.
Rising up after the fall, I was subjected to a spirited discussion with Tracey over whether what she spotted was bird droppings or scat from some other animal that had eaten something with seeds and most of the scat was washed away. You'll have to see for yourself in the photoset and vote. Please, we need to settle this without resorting to violence. 
Now getting close to the end of our time window, we headed back, cutting across country instead of slogging through the wash. Tracey didn't care to take off her shoes to empty sand out again. My Teva's performed admirably, thank you!  |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
