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| Hiking | 28.57 Miles |
2,448 AEG |
| | Hiking | 28.57 Miles | 16 Hrs 50 Mns | | 1.70 mph |
| 2,448 ft AEG | | 35 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Dan, Andrew, and I hiked this passage over 2 days. Dan and I camped at the parking area above the RR Tracks and the Gila river near Kelvin. We wanted to camp out here the night before the start of our hike so we'd be fresh when Andrew arrived Saturday morning. Our plan was to leave one vehicle at Kelvin and drive to the Freeman Trailhead on Saturday and start from the South end. Bad Move! This time of year, this area above the Gila River is not a good place to camp. The temp got down to 21 degrees that night. We figure it was almost 20 degrees colder than the Freeman Trailhead.
Day 1 we were up at 06:30, We met up with Andrew at 07:15 and finished packing our back packs before heading to the Freeman Trailhead. I mapped out how to get to the Freeman Trailhead from the West end by Florence, but not from the East side on Highway 77. After some tense moments discussing GPS navigation we were able to find Freeman Rd. Three guys with 3 GPSs is not a good thing.
At the Freeman Trailhead we found work crews installing a cable fence around the parking lot. Our hats off to the the people working to make the AZ Trail better.
Dan had some issues with his backpack, so we didn't get to start our hike until almost 10:30. Aside for some strong winds, it was a perfect day to hike.
The trail was well marked and easy to follow with the exception of at the 15-123 mark where the trail leaves the road and heads East. The marker that should be at that point was missing or I just didn't see it. We had to back track a short distance to get back on track. This time there was no argument over which way to go.
Mile 13.5 is where we had cached water the week before, so we setup camp here about 100 feet off the trail.
Day 2 started out windy, but quite a bit warmer than the day before. We were packed and on the trail by 8:45. Everyone was a little stiff from the day before, but it wasn't long before it wore off.
Around mile 16 we got our first glance of the Big Hill. We could see the trail going up although we were still about 4 miles away. It looked a little intimidating. The next several miles was spent going down in elevation while crossing the same wash at least a half dozen times. After a small climb, we decended into Ripsey Wash where we seen a White Chevy Surburban parked. This turned out to be a husband and wife team of hikers from Tucson that were section hiking the whole trail as day hikes. They had already hiked several hundred miles and were hiking this portion today. It was nice talking to them.
The Big Hill turned out to be a lot easier to climb then we expected, but we were not disappointed by the great 360 degree views from the top. This was the High Point of the trip in several ways. These great views continued most of the way to the way to the Florence-Kelvin Hwy and the end of our journey. |
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