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| Hiking | 27.64 Miles |
5,610 AEG |
| | Hiking | 27.64 Miles | 11 Hrs 36 Mns | | 2.38 mph |
| 5,610 ft AEG | 9 Days 12 Hrs Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I wanted to finish the Red Hills trail in the Mazatzal's. I've done about 2~3 miles of the eastern portion of it. So my goal was to hike the western side to Knob Mountain.
I drove to the Sheep Bridge TH. On the way down to the river, I saw something move in the middle of the road. It was a Gila monster  Boy he was the faster Gila monster I've ever seen. When I stopped he was in the middle of road, when I got out of the Jeep, he was already at the edge of road. He was a runner! I barely got a picture of him.
There was a couple of people fishing /camping along the river's edge. The Dutchman's Grave trail was cool and breezy. I got to the Red Hills intersection a little later.
The Red Hills trail is one of the more rugged, challenging trails in the Mazatzal's. The trail starts out great with a well-worn path, then it disappears with 3~4 cairns leading the way. There are times that the cairns are obscured by vegetation. There was a big climb up a canon with some mines near the top. This reminded me of Siphon draw. There was a road at the mine that didn't go anywhere. There was a mine under the trail! I was able to mostly keep on trail. I did spend a lot of time route finding on the climbs.
There were a couple of times I had to do a "leap of faith". The trail stopped at a cairn. My GPS's showed to go through a sea of vegetation. I tried it and after 10 to 15 feet a trail would reappear. This works out until I hit a creek at 4,700 feet. The vegetation started to switch over to pines. The trail went to a camp by a creek bed and stopped cold. I literally searched low and high with no success. One GPS showed the trail on the right side of the creek, while the other showed the left. I split the difference hiked down the middle of the creek. There was some water in the creek. I got to a point where I was hot and found a nice tree canopy over the creek. I took lunch and noticed that the GPS's showed that I missed a turn-off on the trail. I filtered three liters of water and slugged down two on the spot.
I went back down the creek and a found a cairn! It led me down to another canyon and then it started to leave the canyon. The vegetation was getting really thick. There was a trail, but I had to fight the vegetation for it. After I bit I was tired of getting cut up and turned around. It was apparent I wasn't going to make Knob Mountain. The Red Hills trail is longer than the published 8.6 miles.
I headed back and made good time because I already did the route finding.
One common theme I noticed about Mazatzal trails (especially the Western ones) is that they almost always disappear or get erratic at water crossings. Typically there are numerous well-defined spur trails near the water crossing. 
It was a tough hike. It got pretty warm as the day went on. I went through 9 liters of fluids. I'll try finishing the trail from the Western side. |
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"Everywhere is walking distance...If you have the time"
-Stephen Wright |
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