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| Hiking | 2.92 Miles |
1,415 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.92 Miles | 5 Hrs 46 Mns | | 1.04 mph |
| 1,415 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 58 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Margies Peak, in the Maricopa Mountains, has a benchmark on it’s top.
I was in the area chauffeuring an out of town friend to a couple client meetings. He had the meetings at the two clients’ homes, on a man-made lake, built exclusively for water skiing. (West of Rte 85, off of Woods Rd, basically in the ‘middle-of-nowhere’). Ironically, there are a total of 6 or 7 such waterski lakes in and around the Phoenix valley. Nice homes surround most of these man-made ski lakes.
Instead of me sitting by the lake waiting for him (and being jealous of anyone waterskiing), I went on a hike on the east side of Rte 85 to locate SKULL Triangulation Station atop Margies Peak.
Two bits of info about Margies Peak:
1—-Arizona Highways, Feb 2004, “Margie Baker Woods has a cove, a trail and a peak named in her honor. She and her husband ran the Cosmo, a bygone restaurant and nightclub between Gila Bend and Buckeye.”
2—-Margies Peak - “Granitoid rocks of similar (Lower Proterozoic) age, including porphyritic and leucocritic granites, occupy the majority of the Maricopa Mountains. These lithologies form the Margies Peak summit.”
I understand the first bit of info. - The 2nd bit ………not so much !!
It’s a short hike, but I found it challenging. No trails anywhere, some steep areas with scree, and just enough cholla to keep you mindful of where to step. I boulder hopped alot, to stay away from them, although I still lost 2 battles with cholla going up and one huge battle descending. It took about 50 minutes to ‘de-needle’ myself (and my shirt) on the way down.
Interestingly, the the wooden staff wired into position by surveyors is still standing proud over the benchmark. I have no clue if it’s been that way since the 1949 USGS surveyors monumented SKULL. It looks like an original placement, but who knows? In any event, it’s rare to see one still standing.
The summit register is full of logins on two little notebooks. The paper on the older one disintegrates in your hand. There’s also a datasheet for SKULL in there (not mine).
All in all, a good little hike to occupy my time while my friend was working.
I’ve included a few photos of the waterski lake (and airport), for good measure.
If someone buys a house there, ski me through the slalom course. I’ll buy the gas.  |
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Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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