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| Hiking | 7.60 Miles |
489 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.60 Miles | 2 Hrs 23 Mns | | 3.30 mph |
| 489 ft AEG | 5 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Nan's write-up of this hike in 2006 was before all the signs and updates to the Northern section of the McDowell preserve. Now it's pretty easy to follow the signs to do this relatively flat loop. We took these trails: Brown's Ranch Road trail 1.3 miles to Corral trail. Take Corral trail 0.7 miles to Dry Gulch trail. Go on Dry Gulch trail 0.3 miles to dead end into Cholla Mountain Loop trail. We went clockwise. The Cholla Mountain Loop trail is 3.0 in total. Then we came back same way we went in.
There are other ways to get to Cholla Mountain loop (by Powerline trail or Maverick) or even starting from Granite Mountain TH and doing a huge circle around both Cholla and Little Granite Mountain. But I think the way we went using Corral is the most direct.
Having hiked Cholla's neighbor (Little) Granite Mountain a few weeks ago - - it's hard not to compare them. There were beautiful boulders on both and Cholla has two unique rock features: Cathedral Rock and The Amphitheater. But overall LGM is prettier than Cholla IMO.
The yucca on Corral trail and Dry Gulch trail were really prominent and beautiful. They looked like lamp posts along the trail edge. Then only on the far east southeast side of the mountain do you realize why it's called Cholla mountain.
Sunset was great with clouds in the sky. Chill in the air but not too windy. Saw only a handful of people out. Went to Greasewood Flat for dinner. Nice date hike just the two of us.  |
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