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| Hiking | 10.70 Miles |
2,500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.70 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 1.78 mph |
| 2,500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The Steelers play Monday night this week, so I had all day Sunday to take a ride up north and do a hike. My co-worker Gordie who did the Keet Seel hike with me had time to tag along since he's a Chiefs fan and they're the team the Steelers are playing on MNF, so he also had all day Sunday to hike.
We arrived at the Bear Flat TH at about 7:35am. The entire area was covered in a combination of frost and a very light dusting of snow. Finding the trail up the hill was a little bit tricky at first but following the HAZ track, we found it soon enough. the steepest part of this hike is the initial climb out of the valley up to the ridge.
At the first trail junction, we took the Mescal Ridge Trail to its terminus at the Horse Prairie Tank. The frost had already started to melt on our way out and was almost all gone on our way back. The early morning along this trail also provided some nice views of the snow dusted Mogollon Rim.
On our way back we had lunch by the trail junction, and then took the Bear Flat Trail out one mile short of the next trail junction. the Bear Flat Trail is much nicer than the Mescal Ridge Trail. It's less rocky, flatter, and overall the views are nicer. we saw a few cows hanging out on that trail, which caused some delays for us while waiting for them to get off the trail. On our way back, we saw a pretty big bull just before the trail junction. Fortunately, it got up and moved on without any real persuasion necessary.
Looks like some very nice opportunities for some nice overnight backpacks in the Hellsgate Wilderness, as the trails are very long and dead end in the middle of nowhere. Looking forward to what dayhikes I can make out of these for the next few years. |
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