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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
2,521 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | 7 Hrs 10 Mns | | 1.71 mph |
| 2,521 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | After reviewing Preston's well written and well documented "Sierra Ancha Mountains" area hike description, anyone who enjoys poking around early 20th century Arizona mining history with the additional advantages of having a peak to summit with scenic near and distant views to enjoy, seems a given to me one would almost have to add this hike to their "to do" list.
This hike offers the advantage of a shorter drive from our PHX area to the recommended TH Start at the intersection of Hwy 288/FR489 as well as offering an option for a passenger car parking or capable high-clearance 4WD if one chooses to drive up FR489 vs hiking. I recommend hiking FR489 since it offers a nice, shaded canopy of various old growth tree varieties, perennial Pocket Spring, old Asbestos Mining history along the way with some fairly significant up hill/downhill  elevation too..which is a good exercise thing!
In April'11 before our mnlumberjack returned to MN for the summer and autumn months, I had plans for this hike, but instead we visited the Sierra Ancha Wilderness "Pueblo Canyon Overlook" area.
Still on my "to do" list with Oregon Hiker also enjoying hiking and exploring our Sierra Ancha area and with Jack's recent arrival back to Arizona, it was time to do it!
There is tons of interesting, historic Asbestos Mining history (1914-1963) associated with this area which is well documented in Oregon Hiker's triplog. Also documented in mnlumberjack's triplog are the many uses of Asbestos Fibers. Along with reviewing this hike description writeup, I highly recommend reviewing these two triplogs which should add significant meaning to any planned trip here. One of the interesting things I noticed about this area were all the many obscure old mining roads that branch-off FR489 and especially the maze of roads off FR489 that head SE from the upper saddle area. Most of these SE branching roads do not show up on our MapDEX Topo map overlay options, but Garmin MapSource 24k, Google Earth, and Satellite views clearly show them. What could be down there that we did not have time to explore? 
Our arrival this day at the FR489 upper saddle beginning viewpoint areas and later the summit of Asbestos Point (at 6652ft) greeted us with unfortunate thick, overcast/hazy day conditions which made for difficult pictures, but we tried to made the best of it. For this trips landscape shots I had previously planned to experiment some with my Canon G10 settings by exclusively selecting ISO 200 with a 5.6 Focal at -1/3 exposure just to see if I could notice any pic differences. I could not detect anything obvious other than noticing a tad more cooler color look to my pics than previously using my standard modes of P-program, ISO auto, daylight WB, vivid color, with -1/3 exposure. Maybe the less than desirable day conditions helped to nullify my planned experiment?
I much enjoyed this hike, hiking company, and our Mexican food in Globe after. My thanks also to Jack and Larry for helping me recover (ie- for feeling sorry for me  from one very hard fall I took hiking downhill on steep, ball bearing FR489).. I really busted myself good with both feet going out from under me with my standard 25lb pack and me hitting the ground on my left forearm  I will survive..just a couple of cuts, some lasting scrapes and bruises but mostly just  . Past time for some new treads! |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
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| (Outside.. "there is No Place Like It!!") |
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