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| North Mountain Park - Little Basalt, AZ | |
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| | North Mountain Park - Little Basalt, AZ | | | |
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North Mountain Park - Little Basalt, AZ
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| Hiking | 1.73 Miles |
293 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.73 Miles | 2 Hrs 19 Mns | | 2.04 mph |
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| 293 ft AEG | 1 Hour 28 Mns Break | | |
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none
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| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | For years I've been eyeballing a little hill NW of the VC. It has a saguaro on top that from a distance looks like a Christian cross. I called it Calvary Hill until today. In the little nature walk by the VC there are observation stations pointing to several mountains in the park and identifying them. Greenstone Mountain? Never heard of it. But there it stood, just S of the VC. On the N was the big dark hill, Basalt Mound. Description or name I know not. The Mound's little brother to the SW had no name so I dubbed it Little Basalt.
There is no real trail to Little Basalt's summit, so I bushwhacked and made one from the 7th street entrance. Traveling westerly along Big Basalt's southern slope, I flushed out two large coveys of quail and came across some blooming phacelia (aka Scorpion Weed, purple Helliotrope et al). I wasn't the first to reach LB's summit. A few small vodka bottles and a cigarette carton, all empty or mostly so, lay about. I stayed up there more than an hour, watching hikers, joggers, a horseback rider and leashed dogs on the trails below and taking photos from an angle of the park I'd never considered. Short hike but big on quality, a little adventure. Other blooming wildflowers seen along the way back via the N dam: globe mallow, brittle bush, desert marigold and, yes, some creosote. Lots of quail noises, and seven hot-air balloons to the NW, too far off to hear the pilots turning the burners on and off. Many users on the trails on a warm, wonderful afternoon. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
Phacelia, brittlebush, globe mallow, desert marigold, creosote and zillions of tiny yellow and white flowered plants, so small you almost have to get on hands and knees to see them. |
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