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| Scenic Drive | 1.50 Miles |
800 AEG |
| | Scenic Drive | 1.50 Miles | | | |
| 800 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | An idea came to me while watching the dramatic 3rd game of the World Series Saturday evening. Do I want to sit around drinking beer and watching football all day Sunday or would it be better to head up to the Pinal Mountains by Globe in search of fall color and maybe run into the HAZ group hiking there? All the beautiful leaf photos being posted lately made it a no brainer; I needed to go up there! Left the house Sunday morning about 6:30, heading up to Globe by way of Mammoth and Winkelman. Made my usual stop at the McDonald's then headed for the CCC Icehouse Picnic area. Saw the group's vehicles parked along the road near there, figuring (correctly) that they had been hiking quite awhile already. First thing I wanted to do was drive to Pioneer Pass to look around. On my way back down from there, I was wondering if the group was sticking to the posted plan on the loops. I next wanted to head up to the top of the mountain on the other road, and figured I would maybe run into them there. But, if they changed the plan I might not see them, so stopped and left a note on Kelly's truck with my new cell phone number just in case at about 10:20. I knew Kelly wanted to also hit Signal and Pinal Peaks and they would likely do this on the first loop when they were still strong. I also figured that they would already be heading back down Sixshooter by the time I got up there, with me stopping for photos, and I probably wouldn't run into them. I was up near the top when I got a surprise call from Chumley, who saw my note to Kelly. He was coming in to do the second part of the hike with the crew, and was planning on waiting for them at the picnic area. Since they were running late, he decided to head up Icehouse, thinking they would catch up to him. I told him I was just going to hang out up top and try to see them later in the day when they reached FR651. Got a call from Kelly about 11:40 saying they were finishing lunch and were about to head up on the second part, thinking they might finish in the dark.  Kelly is a java junkie like me, and I had some Ethiopian coffee beans I roasted the day before that I wanted to give her. (Talk about potent stuff, even though I had double bagged it in zip locks, the aroma was permeating through into my pack and vehicle!) I also wanted to get some Mexican food with them after the hike, but with their long day, I knew that might not happen.
I wasn't up for the monster hiking they were doing, but wanted to hike a short ways down from Ferndell Spring on Sixshooter in search of color. That was a good call!  I stopped just before reaching the old sawmill site, then headed back up. Todd let me know the approximate time he would reach the road by Signal Peak, and he was there when I drove over.  We had a little time to kill while waiting for the others to come up Icehouse, so we walked up to nearby Signal Peak. Todd had somewhere to be that evening, so he had a must leave by time that was reached just about as the crew made it to the road!  Visited briefly, gave Kelly her coffee, and asked if they might be up for post hike Mex in Miami. They said yes, so after a few photos of them walking to the Kellner Trailhead, I proceeded to slowly drive down the mountain, knowing it would be about an hour and a half before they got back down to the vehicles. I timed it well, only having to wait about 20 minutes for them to return.
After dinner at Guayo's El Rey, everyone headed home. For me that was over to Florence and down to I-10 by Picacho. Back by about 10 o'clock after a fine day. And the Red Sox won the baseball game I missed, which made it even better!
It was nice to see Joe, Kelly, and Todd again, and to meet Dave and Larry. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Substantial
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