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| Hiking | 4.80 Miles |
1,329 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.80 Miles | | | |
| 1,329 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | To start with, I used HAZ Tracks to track my hike and it calculated the 4.8 miles round-trip and 1329 AEG (which were different from the "default" figures for this triplog). Just sayin...
Anyway, wow this is a cool hike! I had started it yesterday, then realized it was longer than I had thought and wouldn't make it to the top before sunset. I was guessing this was all about the views to the east, particularly the mountain ranges lit in the late afternoon sun, so I didn't see the point in finishing yesterday. I came back today a bit earlier.
The first 1.25 miles are pretty easy. I took the trail from the north end of the parking area that you access off of the dirt road, near the utility poles. It goes through a nice mini canyon, then climbs out on to a bench from which you have really nice views to the mountains on the south side of I-8 and the rest of the trail ahead of you. After you hit the concrete access road for the cell towers, WOW! That's some steep climbing! I swear there were quite a few sections at 45 degrees, no exaggeration. I have hiked the steep ones in Phoenix many times...Piestewa, Camelback, Siphon Draw...but they get into steps/stairways and climbing. This is just a really even, steep path and that's difficult. I reckon this was good training for McDowell Peak in Scottsdale, because I haven't done that and those descriptions all talk about how steep the road is there. Anyway, I digress.
The views WERE stunning from the utility towers! No one was up there so I just wandered a bit. One other hiker showed up and showed me the trail log, suggesting I sign in since it was my first time. I did, and added ""HikeArizona.COM"" after my signature 
Then came the hike down. A hiking pole would have been nice...I think. I think my knees will be sore, it's really difficult to maintain that steep of a downhill for a full mile.
Regardless...it was worth it and a great hike. See my pics!
PS Joe B...I tried to type H A Z dot com above, because that's what I signed in the trail register, but you did something whereby that automatically changes to "HikeArizona.COM" when it saves a triplog here. I didn't write the full words in the trail register. |
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