| | -
-
| 1 label |  |
|
|
-
| 1 label |  |
|
|
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 4.51 Miles |
948 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.51 Miles | 3 Hrs 39 Mns | | 1.84 mph |
| 948 ft AEG | 1 Hour 12 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | Hoping for somewhat cooler temps than the valley we set out for a few days in the Tonto Basin side of the Sierra Ancha. We found Preston to be right on with his description of the 'roads' and how they deteriorate down to the point barely ATV passable. But with the Samurai being almost as nimble as a mountain goat, my Sammy soldiered along up the mountain through the some of the toughest terrain I've encountered. More than a few times Tracey thought it was time to leave the vehicle and set out on foot, but as long as we could keep moving we continued on. When we came to an area just over 2 miles from the peak that would take significant time to carefully traverse, we found a place to turn around and began our hike from there.
We found once we got past that rough patch the road was almost a breeze for another mile and more than once we thought we should have driven farther, but then we thought how nice it was to be on foot after a 3 hour drive. We were following Preston's track along the road paying more attention to the surroundings than to the GPS and found we'd gone past where Preston had headed for the peak. So we took a hard right and proceeded to bushwhack our way up to the summit. Some spots in the pines were quite open, others were thick with Manzanita so our skills at finding the best way through were put to the test. Along the way we encountered a great deal of bear scat, and by the looks of some, there is one huge bear up here. 
Eventually we broke free within 50' of a balanced rock we'd seen poking up above the trees 30 minutes earlier. We climbed up the large boulders on the north approach, took photos and videos of the surrounding area, then continued on to the summit itself.
Marking the summit was a large rock cairn but with no summit log found we saw no point in leaving one. Visible just past the cairn is an old Salado ruins in a pretty poor state. By the somewhat haphazard way the rocks are stacked, I doubt it was a long-term settlement as much as a fortified lookout. There was only one spot that appeared to be laid out as a separate room. While the ruins weren't in good shape, the views in every direction were awesome.
After spending plenty of time wandering around the summit and grabbing a quick bite we set off back to the car for the second hike planned for the day just a few miles away at Malicious Gap where we would camp overnight. (Bears beware, we're loud sleepers)
An arbitrary 'top 20' photos are posted on HAZ with the set of 100+ available here:
http://www.changephoenix.com/11/2011-06-21GreenbackPeak.html
I'll be posting video links once they are edited and posted on YouTube. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
