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| Hiking | 21.50 Miles |
3,348 AEG |
| | Hiking | 21.50 Miles | 10 Hrs 46 Mns | | 2.00 mph |
| 3,348 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I've been wanting to get out to Peter's Mesa for years but between the un-driveable road (at least for my vehicle) from Tortilla TH or almost the need for an overnighter to reach it I had not yet been there.
With the weather cooling I figured I'd better try it before the days get too short. So I set off well before sunrise in a very fine drizzle (not quite enough to put on my waterproof windbreaker) with hopes it would clear as the day wore on. While the rain stopped, the trail was quite wet and muddy, and with all the brush along the trail my pants soon were soaked through. With all the overnight rain one may think the washes would be flowing but none were, and only one even had standing water in it.
Just as I reached the Bull Pass saddle it started to drizzle enough to cover up, which worked out great because it was my first short break. I hadn't planned on the break yet but the steep and rocky climb up the west side of Bull Pass told me to take a breather. Five minutes to take off my pack, pull out and don my rain gear and I was off again. No rest for the wicked, you know.
From Bull Pass it was back onto the Dutchman Trail past the Cavalry Trail (next trip out this way I get out there) and on toward the Peter's Trail 103. It was quite obvious this section of trail is seldom used and I was forced to pull out my brush trimmer and cut through quite a few spots. But eventually I realized this was slowing me down I wasn't sure I'd get all the way out and back while there was still light. As I got closer to Peter's Trail the rain stopped and the sun came out briefly. I started the climb on Peter's Trail but with the sun out I stopped for 20 minutes or so to dry everything out and pack the rain gear away.
On the way I dropped off a water cache for future use, halving the weight of my pack, which made it a bit easier on the climb up to Peter's Mesa. With only intermittent sunshine on the trek up to the mesa it was quite pleasant, albeit with some effort. But even with over 10 miles under my belt I felt no signs of fatigue. I continued until I reached the high point of the GPS track I had (from here on HAZ) which was 11 miles out. Since I had been carrying almost a 40 pound load on the way out and lost time brush-trimming it had taken me over 6-1/2 hours, with an overall average of 1.5 mph (at that rate I'd be returning hours after sunset) so I figured I better get hustling. Being lighter and now able to breeze through the cats-claw, I was like a man on a mission and even stopping to chat for 20 minutes with a couple of backpackers I made it back in barely over 4 hours, bringing my overall average back up to 2 mph. Funny, after 15 miles (and eventually racking up over 3300 feet of elevation gain) I was still cruising at 3-3.5 mph to reach my goal of returning before sunset, which I did with one minute to spare (although with the overcast again it seemed like it had set an hour before).
I weeded the almost 200 photos down to 100 and posted them here:
http://www.changephoenix.com/10/2010-10-21PetersMesa.html
(With so many stops for pictures I guess it's no wonder why I had so much "stopped" time) |
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