| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 7.00 Miles |
2,500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.00 Miles | | | |
| 2,500 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Part 2 of our current fascination with the west ridge of Peralta Canyon...
Lou wanted to find the route that comes down from the ridge to Fremont Saddle, but we've never been able to spot it from below. I've been wanting to check out Robber's Roost for ages, so I somehow managed to talk him into doing this one on a workday with the understanding that route finding would be my responsibility and I had better know where we're going. Uh... no problem.
So, I read a lot of trip reports and looked at a lot of photos, but I wasn't getting a real clear picture of the Roost area in my mind. I decided that now was the time for me to bite the technology bullet and figure out how to download a track to my GPS.
{I've had my GPS (and the textbook that came with it) for three years now, yet I am able to comprehend only the most basic functions of this frustrating device. I can watch it draw the red line as I hike and cross my fingers that the resulting image bears some resemblance to the crumpled paper copy jammed into my back pocket. I can also tell you my altitude at any given time (which might prove to be useful information when SSAR comes looking for me). And, I know this thing is hard to kill because I have fallen on it, dropped it on rocks, taken it swimming and yet it survives... if only to vex me.}
After following the instructions on the FAQ page here, I was miraculously able to achieve partial success. I got the track to show up on my GPS map screen, but only for the first half of the route. I think I know why this happened, but since I had the section of track I needed, I wasn't inspired to mess with it any further, lest I screw up what I already had. I was quite proud of this tiny accomplishment and, as it turned out, it really saved the day.
The relentless march up Carney requires no special instructions - keep going straight up and pause occasionally to prevent cardiac arrest. At the top, where the trail goes left toward the ridgeline, you go off to the right on a well cairned route into the drainage. The first misstep my newly tricked out GPS alerted us to was when the route split and we followed the cairns crossing the drainage heading north. Don't do this. You want to stay on the right of the drainage and follow those cairns which lead you to the chiminea rock. After this point, you enter a maze of rock spires where cairns seem to vanish altogether. From here, we followed the GPS track and even that involved a lot of trial and error. I'm not sure we would have found our way into the Roost without it.
Words and photos cannot do justice to this incredible piece of landscape. I could have spent days up there wandering around in awe. Lou had to keep prodding me to move on because I lost all track of time in my amazement.
The route going north along the ridge was easy to follow. Occasionally we had to stop and look around for the next cairn, as they lead you in a lazy serpentine, rather than a straight line. Coming down to Fremont Saddle was a piece of cake. We were expecting some difficulty, but it was surprisingly short and not very steep at all. You arrive at the saddle quite suddenly after a quick down climb through a slot and we startled a small group there as we seemed to appear out of nowhere!
We kept our mileage and our 'time out' to a minimum by coming back via the Peralta Trail and by spotting a vehicle at both trailheads. I didn't see the need to add that extra mile of very familiar real estate to the total distance here. This was a physical hike and we were every bit as grateful as I knew we would be for the advance planning on that.
This is definitely one trip to put on your Wish List! |
|
Wildflowers Observation Isolated
|
|
| _____________________
I'm at home in the wilderness... it's civilization I have problems with! ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
