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| Hiking | 4.00 Miles |
528 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.00 Miles | | | |
| 528 ft AEG | | 3 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | I hadn't yet been out to the Brown's Ranch Trailhead, and I found it to be just as nice as the other McDowell Sonoran Preserve trailheads. Great shade, water, restrooms, and very complementary to the setting.
I was scouting hikes for my hiking group again and I wanted one which was more inclusive (i.e. so the occasional hikers can do it), and this loop looked like it might fit the bill. It did! I hiked out Brown's Ranch Road, which really is a nice wide constructed trail now, to the Brown's Ranch Summit trail and took that up to the lookout just below the summit. It was somewhat popular with mountain bikes because of the construction of the trail: good gradient and few rocks or built steps.
The view from the lookout was nice, and I was going to go up to the summit, but I have a thing about steep gravelly trails which don't give much traction, and that's what the 0.2 mile spur was like. I will do it next time, but with a hiking pole so I don't have to worry about slipping on the way down. This is something I noticed in particular on trails in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve: is it the way Scottsdale builds trails, or is it just the geology? Tom's Thumb and trails from Lost Dog Wash are also similarly gravelly.
Anyway, I continued back down the other side of the mountain and took the Upper Ranch trail back to the trailhead, which afforded very nice views to Cave Creek, Elephant Mountain, Black Mountain, etc. I'm sure the group will like this one! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
