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| Hiking | 5.01 Miles |
2,223 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.01 Miles | 6 Hrs 9 Mns | | 1.45 mph |
| 2,223 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 42 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Kelly suggested a "Sedona Double" with Bear and Wilson, both mountains we have scheduled but ended up postponing due to weather. So after her work on Saturday we headed up to Red Rock Country and took the 89a out of Cottonwood. It was quite a nice drive with spectacular views and much better than going all the way thru Sedona and all those round-abouts. The TH lot was mostly full but we found a spot to park.
ya I know, this hike shouldn't have taken that long but there was this area I really struggled at and didn't know if I was even going to make it down from that second bench so...
We starting hiking around 11. I knew this would be a tough climb but I felt in pretty good condition to do it. Kelly knows I struggle with this type of hike but she was willing to drag me up and I was certainly willing to go so off we went. It's interesting that you really can't see the top of Bear Mountain once you cross the road. The beauty of the hike starts right away and just keeps on giving the entire way up and the entire way down. The in-between is quite awesome as well.
The initial climb is a little over 400 feet in less than 1/2 mile. You can almost immediately beginning looking around and behind you for already fabulous views  . Kelly spotted this hole in a rock with some other little alcoves along side one area. Kind of hard to photograph but neat to see. And then up a tad more and you're on the first bench. It sure is pretty here too; just so much to gawk at.
I was pleasantly surprised that the bench walking was longer than I anticipated. This is a good and a bad thing as that generally means on these shorter mileage hikes that eventually you'll be going almost straight up  to reach that almost 1900 elevation gain. As we started the ascent to the second bench; something wasn't right with me. I kept going at a snail's pace. This area is not that hard and I kind of like this kind of hiking climbing. Not too far from topping the second bench I yelled up for Kelly and said I can't go another step. I was feeling extremely poorly  . I inched my way up another notch as she couldn't hear me.
Kelly says, "come up to here" and rest and eat a bit and we'll see how you feel. At that point, I thot I couldn't even go back down as my legs didn't want to move and I was shaky and emotional and all that. Well I think I must have entered into one of those vortexes. I am calling it "surrounded by red rock perplex vortex"  . We pulled off to the side where I ate part of a nut bar and drank some coconut water and rested. Believe it or not, 20 minutes later I was up and at 'em, no worse for wear and like nothing had ever happened  . Go figure.
We ended up walking to the other side of the bench and found some cairns to follow not realizing we should have headed straight up the bench. We pulled out HAZTraks but couldn't figure out where the tracker was so we got Scout out and were able to veer back north and west to the trail. We continued slightly up along this bench. It was also pretty long. It would veer to the right so we could get views to the left (with WoodChute and Mingus) and views to the right toward Fay Canyon. It was just incredible I tell ya  . Little did I know the views would keep on giving; now that's my kind of hike!
I think one of our most favorite spots is where we had lunch on the large cross beds of rock looking into Fay Canyon. This rock is made of fine well-rounded grains of quartz weakly held together by the mineral calcite. The Coconino was once a huge "sea" of sand; the cross beds represent the downwind faces of ancient sand dunes.
Here is where we met a fellow from Cottonwood that had also spent time in NE as a teacher so he and Kelly had lots of notes to compare. And then it was time to move on as we still had that last 200 foot climb  to the top of this bear! The climb, I mean hike wasn't really too bad from here as you skirt the southern side to the top. I was so glad to finally be here even though I knew it would be somewhat anticlimactic.
We decided to go to the west side to take in the views over here. Down near some red rocks and surrounded by trees, you can see the setting for the hike that takes you to view the Palatki Ruins. You can also see Bill Williams Mountain in the distance. And the geology of the area below you and at your side is a work of art in and of itself. After soaking in this view and talking with the fellow from Cottonwood (oh, and Kelly gave him some cord to tie his sole back on his shoe) for about 15 minutes we headed back up to the top and toward the north where we saw the San Francisco Peaks. Other than that, as others have said, just a bushy summit. But I was  glad to be here at last.
The way down we enjoyed as much as the way up really getting into the geology we were seeing. We tried to figure it out and in some cases I think we kind of did. We saw different things on the way down that we missed on the way up and/or that the light was showing us. We investigated this one area further as the erosion had created an interesting geological quandary in this sea of ancient fossil dunes. It was nice to be able to take the time and investigate as well as ponder the geology of this mountain's wonderland.
We finally got back to the top of the second bench and looked over to the vortex relief area to see a band of color in the Schnebly Hill Formation that we hadn't noticed originally. The light was showing it off. After Rxing a little I discovered it's the Ft Apache Limestone layer. From there it was time to hike down to the first bench. This area is a little steep and we were in the shade. We carefully made our way down as the sun was making its way down too. We got some great light on the area around us so it was hard to build up any speed when it just seemed necessary to stop and gawk  .
After going thru those two large drainages we arrived back at Tonto a little before 5. We went and reviewed the map and while changing our shoes the fellow from Cottonwood came over. He seems like a perfect candidate for HAZ so hopefully he'll show up. This was only the first of two successful days and what a day it was finshed off by a trout dinner for me at the airport restaurant.
Videos:
Part 1 to the second bench - http://youtu.be/VJWo99DAhDY
Part 2 from the second bench - http://youtu.be/SLJIB4CZPIo
Part 3 the last third to the top and around the top - http://youtu.be/pJbJ3qbeCuM
Part 4 coming down Part 1 - http://youtu.be/eeO5PK8LBPU
Part 5 coming down Part 2 - http://youtu.be/ZZ-mDfCcYwE |
| _____________________
For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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