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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
1,150 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | 6 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.23 mph |
| 1,150 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | My winter tour of the Goldfields continues as I finally get to explore the north side of the range and one of its best kept secrets - Delicate Arch. Also called Elephant Arch since it resembles two elephants touching trunks, it has to be the most adorable rock formation in the Southwest. But it's a chore to reach. The trail going up Gateway Canyon is overgrown with cactus and catclaw. My new hiking pants weren't as impermeable as I thought. Ouch!
The first part of the hike along the Salt River is much easier. Being a riparian habitat, it's a birding paradise. I spotted Cardinals, red-tail hawks, ducks and grebes. The grebes are cute, as they'll dive underwater when they see you and not resurface until they're a couple of hundred feet downstream.
Also, a can't miss part of the hike is the Great Blue Heron nesting site. There are dozens of these large creatures nesting in a tree high above the river. They make all sorts of weird grunts and croaks. They have the wingspan of a pterodactyl and the demeanor of a velociraptor. I was glad to be seperated from them by the river. |
| _____________________
"I've driven across deserts, driven by the irony, that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free"
- Frank Turner "The Road" |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
