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| Hiking | 7.80 Miles |
4,150 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.80 Miles | 7 Hrs | | 1.36 mph |
| 4,150 ft AEG | 1 Hour 15 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This was advertised on the Las Cruces Meet-up and planned for the 18th. It was hopefully going to be a scramble up the western "retaining wall" route, which is supposed to be class 3. Two cancellations and a high wind forecast for the 18th had me changing the date to the 19th. I had felt ill since Tuesday and wasn't feeling great for this, and the wind was up as well. I thought I had the route description, but I never printed it out and I just brought stuff for the Rabbit Ears climbs. Useless!! Either way, I had a decent recollection of the paragraph which served as the route description in a guide written during the Nixon Administration. Needless to say, our Farm and Corn subsidies are not the only things to have changed in 40 years, and a review of the description a few minutes ago, showed me it would not have been helpful. As it was, it was pretty windy, and I would say very windy at nearly 9,000' yesterday. I do not think either myself or the other hiker would have enjoyed being on an exposed narrow spine in the wind we had up there yesterday, and we scoured the walls of Dark Canyon looking for anything that seemed appropriate as "class 3". Was there any? Certainly not compared to the stuff on South Rabbit Ear. Either way, this was not to be, and we just went up the normal way.
Things are still dusty and lose on the "trail". You've got to want the Needle Summit to get there. On the plus, we spotted a calm snake, heard some cicadas beginning to call in the lower slopes, and the maples have leaved out up high. The Gambel Oaks aren't there yet, which was surprising. Hiking this glorified scree slope which is often referred to as a, "trail", perhaps to mess with those who find themselves on it(?), I was quickly reminded of why I so very much enjoy the Rabbit Ears Canyon Hike. Solid rock! The Arizona White Oaks have mostly browned and are dormant until the rains come, perhaps in a month, and everything needs rain. |
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Route Editor
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