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| Hiking | 11.00 Miles |
1,100 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.00 Miles | 4 Hrs 15 Mns | | 2.59 mph |
| 1,100 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I had planned on hiking the eastern section of the new northern MSP expansion, but I found out there was a race from McDowell Mt. Park to Fountain Hills and that road would be closed in the morning. So I decided to take the 101 to Pima Rd. to Dynamite and hit some of the eastern trails.
I arrived at the TH just after 6am, only to find that the gates were still closed. This is kind of annoying that Scottsdale does this. First of all, I have a headlamp and can hike the first 15 minutes in the dark if I need the lamp. Secondly, it was already light enough that I didn’t need a headlamp. Regardless, I had to wait 20 minutes for the gate to open.
I took the Brown’s Ranch Road Trail to its terminus and immediately picked up the Corral Trail and followed it around the hill/ridge, looping back to the Brown’s Ranch Road Trail. The Brown’s Ranch site is kind of interesting, although more modern looking than some of the old abandoned corral sites in the Supes. On the north side of the hill along the Corral Trail, I saw about 5 doe along the trail that quickly ran to cover amongst the brush and trees. I managed to get a few pics.
After that, I took the Brown’s Ranch Road Trail south to the Maverick Trail, out to the Watershed Trail and hiked back west on the Vaquero Trail. Then I started at the beginning of the Brown’s Mountain Trail, taking that to the summit and then looped back around, returning to the TH on the Upper Ranch Trail. On my way up Brown’s Mountain, there were a lot of people who had just summited on their way down. I got lucky enough to not have too many people up there to enjoy the views and get some pictures.
I started at 6:30am and finished by 10:45am, so the temps most of the time were still pretty cool and breezy. It doesn’t take long once the sun hits for the lot to fill up. It’s not too crowded in that area, though. The area does give some really nice views, minus the powerlines that cut thru the center of it. |
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