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| Hiking | 7.02 Miles |
427 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.02 Miles | 4 Hrs 20 Mns | | 1.62 mph |
| 427 ft AEG | | 10 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Headed west from Telegraph Pass about 2:30 traveling solo. The goal: Reaching an ill-defined spot between posts 39 and 40 that I marked by GPS on the 2nd, coming up from San Juan Rd on the west. That nebulous spot will complete my last segment of doing the entire National Trail. Just past the Stone Hut, a Desert Tarantula crossed the trail. I'd not seen one before. It took an effort to reach the top of the first hill about 3/4 of a mile out, 427 feet above where I started. Next to Goat Hill, it seems the highest point (2,395') looking west. I dubbed it Bee Hill because a bee followed me from there for about a quarter mile.
The hills along the undulating trail are all about the same height, making for a relaxing hike on a beautiful day. Passed the junction with the Ranger Trail at 1.47 miles, the abandoned mine under Goat Hill at 1.7 and the Hill's summit trail at 1.8. I was racing with the clock now, wanting to beat darkness. Sunset was 6:02. I thought 4:30 would be a good turn-around time, but it was 4:25 when I finally passed Post 39, my goal nowhere in sight. By then I was bleeding.
In my hurry, I had slipped on a rock and pitched over to the left. I was lucky. Only cuts and bruises to my left elbow and forearm. Looked worse than it was. I pushed on knowing now I would have to get back to Telegraph in darkness. Rounding the side of a hill I recognized the spot I sought, a line of white quartz rocks crossing the trail. It was 4:45 when I got there, and decided, what the hell, I'd have a late lunch. "Hurrah," I wrote in my notebook.
I was 3.51 miles out when I started back a few minutes after 5. Even then I stopped to shoot a few photos of Goat Hill and the Estrellas to the west. This is lonesome country, and I met up with only two humans during the whole afternoon. A man and a woman on horses, riding west into the sunset, seemed startled by the blood on my arm and offered assistance. I thanked them and moved on. It was dark by the time I hit Bee Hill and started the steep descent to Telegraph Pass. Traveling along a deep ravine on the north, I negotiated this rocky section carefully, my trekking pole saving me at least twice from another fall. Very glad to reach the car in one piece a few minutes before 7. And glad to finish the National. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
