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| Hiking | 23.62 Miles |
5,739 AEG |
| | Hiking | 23.62 Miles | 11 Hrs 7 Mns | | 2.41 mph |
| 5,739 ft AEG | 1 Hour 20 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Superstition Loop or What were those 10 essentials again?
Last Bradley class the night before reminded that my life is seriously changing in the next couple of weeks.  So I decided that my window of opportunity was growing thin. Decided to do this hike, but no shuttle to set up at 10pm. Wallyfrack gps track to the rescue. I hadn't been to Carney or any of the lower trails or done the ridgeline so I thought I'd combine them.  Got a pretty late start a little before 10am. Flatiron went pretty quick @ 1:13 min. total which surprised me as I felt like I was taking lots of breaks. Took a quick break to hydrate and eat and possibly donate my headlamp? See where I'm going? (More on that later)
Got cruising on the Ridgeline trail and got a good rhythm going until peak 5034 area (I believe) Anyway, I could not find a trail or cairn after ascending and getting to a high point. It looked like it traversed, but then I found myself downclimbing. I spent a good hour orienteeringly challenged. Going in the right direction just too high or low trying to get on track. Took another break to regroup and remove some of the nastiest biting plants I've encountered. There was mean plants I had never even seen before.  I did finally get back on trail on the next ridge, but wasted a lot of time, energy, and (water).
I was pretty tired by the time I got to the lost goldmine trail (My route back to the truck), but I was glad to be done. Total time to this point was 6:25 with a little over an hour of breaks. I felt like the worst was behind me. There were frequent yet small showings of flowers along the carney and goldmine trails. Bruce would be happy that at this point I didn't care and took very few pictures. I notice my water was getting rather low by cloudview (first of the 10 essentials)and I knew I had quite a few miles left since I could see flatiron and it was a good 3-4 miles as the crow flies. I met a nice couple taking their nightly walk who gave me directions to their house and told me to fill up at their spicket. Never underestimate the kindness of strangers.  Now I could eat because I didn't want to waste my fluids digesting stuff before I had a water source. Got back on trail, but the goldmine trail was a lot rougher here and I had already banged up my feet pretty good. (I will have 2-3 less toe nails by the end of the week guaranteed )It was also starting to get dark. Slowed down quite a bit. By the time I got to Jacobs crosscut it was dark. I had already spoken to my wife and let her know I was running late. Decided to take the last break and yank out my headlamp. Checked my pocket no lamp. Checked my bag thinking I threw it in the pack with garbage I removed from my pockets earlier no luck. I did have my phone which has a pretty bright led as backup. The moon was pretty bright and I slowed down and did the rest of the hike in the moonlight occasionally using the phone in some of the tough spots.
I definitely learned some stuff on this hike that I will be applying to future endeavors.  |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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Route Editor
Route Scout
