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| Hiking | 11.10 Miles |
1,750 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.10 Miles | 10 Hrs | | 1.11 mph |
| 1,750 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | |  Here is a link to the Gila Monster photos & other photos I took today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bc_az/sets/72157633174760852/with/8621998499/
Thanks, to Mother Nature, Father Time, HikeArizona.com & Grasshopper, I successfully completed this CLOCKWISE loop hike on a beautiful Monday that is rated at 17.75 Kokopelli(?) seeds.
Every hike description on HikeArizona.com has a Kokopelli Seeds rating; v-e-r-y interesting!
Photographing a Gila Monster walking right down the middle of the trail is what made this hike so unusual & memorable. Gila Monsters spend 90% of their life in a burrow & eat only 5-6 times a year. I’m guessing one I photographed was 16”-20” in overall length, a BIG one & very poisonous.
3:00 a.m. - Awoke, ate a potatoes, bacon & egg breakfast before heading for the trailhead
5:45 a.m. - Fully hydrated, & carrying 4.5 litres of Powerade, I signed the log book at the Peralta Trail Head, calibrated the compass to my GPS, selected Grasshoppers route in my GPS & started out with just a T-Shirt on top & my 20# backpack holding the things I considered essential for this loop hike.
I wanted the sun at my back & wanted to gain the elevation at the beginning of my hike.Hiking up Bluff Springs Trail at this time of the morning kept me in the shade going up the canyon. Shortly after passing the Cave trail junction Todd came up behind me & we traveled together & conversed for perhaps a 1/4 mile together. Todd’s pace was faster than mine & he went on up ahead, leaving me by myself.
My GPS told me when I was directly behind Geronimo’s Cave when heading up Bluff Springs trail.
7:25 a.m. - I started moving in EAST & was surprised at how much water in numerous places I saw along this entire eastern portion of the loop hike..
8:17 a.m. - Arrived at Bluff Springs/Terrapin trail junction & headed east up the wash for the next mile or so.
??:?? a.m. - Arrived at the Bluff Springs Dutchman junction, didn’t look at my GPS & continued .55 mile on Bluff Springs trail. When I looked at my GPS I realized I was hiking the wrong trail, turned around & started hiking back to the trail junction.
Had I not made the mistake of continuing along Bluff Springs I’d never have seen the Gila Monster & gotten two high resolution photos of it walking right down the middle of Bluff Springs Trail like it owned it.
10:20 a.m. - Took two photos of the Gila Monster before it scampered off the trail & into the brush. I had maybe 30 seconds from the time I first saw it, to get my camera out of my waist stabilizer, turn it on, zoom in, focus, & press the shutter release.
10:24 a.m.- Returned to Bluff Springs/Dutchman junction that I’d hiked past, scolded myself for not having looked at my GPS when I first arrived at this junction, however I patted myself on the back for having the good luck to be at the right place, at the right time to get rare photos of the Gila Monster, even though I was on the wrong trail.
Took a nutrition break in the shade of the trees & figured I was now at the half way point in my hike & was feeling good, wasn’t feeling the onset of upper right/hip leg cramps that I’ve experienced in the past.
I figure my sojourn added 1.17 miles to the overall length of my loop hike & I vowed to always look at my GPS at each & every trail junction from now on.
12:07 p.m.- Arrived at Whiskey Springs/Dutchman trail junction & took a couple of photos of the sign post with Miners Needle in the background.
From this point on confirmed my belief that this loop hike SHOULD BE traveled in a CLOCKWISE direction. I was able to see the winding trail below, all the switchbacks.
Had anyone been hiking in this part of the loop I’d have been above them & able to easily see them below
I marveled at the engineers that laid out & built this part of the trail.
1:13 p.m.- Arrived at Coffee Flat/Dutchman trail junction. Began moving west along Coffee Flat heading toward the Peralta Trail head & the Parking lot
3:45 p.m. - Entered my return time in the log book, visited the facilities, doused my head with cool water, dried off, put my gear in my car & relished the warm afterglow my my real life outdoor adventure
After I got home I figured I drank 2 of the 4.5 litres of Powerade I started out with. This was an 11.1 miles loop hike due to my my lil sojourn on the wrong trail instead of 8.93 miles.
Thanks again to HikeArizona.com for providing a website where I was able to download Grasshoppers track on this loop hike. |
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