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| Pinal Peak - Pinal Mountains, AZ | | -
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| | Pinal Peak - Pinal Mountains, AZ | | | |
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Pinal Peak - Pinal Mountains, AZ
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| Hiking | 14.00 Miles |
4,650 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.00 Miles | 6 Hrs 40 Mns | | 3.00 mph |
| 4,650 ft AEG | 2 Hrs Break | 13 LBS Pack | | |
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[ show ]
| no partners | | My GPS didn't do so well on this trip, so I'm going to go with Joe's + a couple adjustments.
Left the house around 5am and after a couple stops, was on my way to the trailhead. The drive was a nice one and set the bar for the rest of the day. Arrived at the trailhead around 8, and started on Sixshooter. The first creek I crossed had a nice trickle. A little further up the trail, I met up with a cow who took the lead for a few minutes before taking off into the thicket.
Sixshooter is a great trail. Easily one of the best that I've been on. The consistent climb is always paired with awesome scenery. I loved every minute of it (once I was out of the chaparral). The relatively flat mile was a nice surprise! I didn't remember that part on the elevation profile. Somewhere along that stretch, I had two deer take off up the slope, one of which made an impressive leap over a boulder.
Towards the top of Sixshooter, I jumped on Ferndell which has a couple fallen trees. Saw two more deer near the end of the trail, and I'm fairly certain they're the same two that I spooked earlier. I didn't pay enough attention to the GPS and took two wrong turns trying to reach what I thought was Pinal's highpoint. Once I was on the right one, I was able to find a benchmark (yet another surprise for the day). The station mark is definitely destroyed. I searched all around and didn't find the other reference mark, so I assume that's gone, too. I found a lot of the views from the actual peak to be so-so, but it was nice up there anyways.
Rather than hop over trees again, I took the forest road back to Sixshooter, and then got on Telephone, which also had some great views. One peak with a steep relief on both sides caught my eye to the east. Turns out it was Turnbull.
Another feature I overlooked was the ridge section on Telephone. Reminded me a lot of Prater Ridge at Mesa Verde. I ended up on trail, but off route after making a right instead of a left which put me on the actual Telephone trail. I guess following the crest of the ridge isn't part of the trail? Either way, it worked out just fine.
Somewhere along the last two miles, I rolled my ankle one too many times and felt it for the rest of the hike. There was still some discomfort when I got up in the morning, so I made the decision to come home instead of finishing the second half of my Pinal 2x2 trip. A bummer all around, but at least now I have all the more reason to come back.  |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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