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| In Search of Overlook Arch 3, AZ | |
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| | In Search of Overlook Arch 3, AZ | | | |
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In Search of Overlook Arch 3, AZ
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| Hiking | 9.90 Miles |
3,104 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.90 Miles | 6 Hrs 58 Mns | | 1.47 mph |
| 3,104 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | 25 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | For this, my third In Search of Overlook Arch hike I decided to take a different approach. Since the Goldfield Mountain Hikes book said to 'look northwest (from Panorama Peak) to see the arch in the upper reaches of 3192 canyon' so I figured I'd try from above looking down instead of looking up from below. For this to work as I hoped, I needed to get to Panorama Peak early enough in the day to have the benefit of looking at shadows.
I began from FR 1356 in the Bulldog Off-Highway Recreation Area and followed the trail up the the saddle just east of Dome Mountain. Rather than the usual ascent up to Dome Mountain summit followed by the clockwise corkscrew loop down and around the western side before continuing across the ridge to Panorama Peak I decided to take a shortcut to cut off the additional 350' AEG of the usual route.
So much for a shortcut... sure it was .3 mile shorter, but with all the up-and-down crossing ridges and ravines the AEG was every bit as much and then some. Oh well, it's the first of a lot of new ground I will cover today. Once up to the ridge it was a reasonable jaunt over to Panorama Peak.
Just as was about to cross the last ridge to Panorama Peak I sensed 'something' so I stopped to listen while scanning the terrain for whatever it might be. After a full minute I had not figured it out, so I turned on my camera and zoomed it a little then used it to scan again. And as I swung it into the shade of Panorama Peak I see this deer staring at me. So I took a quick photo before attempting to get closer to shoot a video. While I did expect it to take off when I moved closer, I expected it would run away from me along a pretty obvious game trail but it came a bit toward me before making a quick turn and dropped out of sight on a steep slope within seconds, so I probably didn't get enough video to make it worthwhile.
Oh well, since I have the camera ready, I figured I'd shoot video of the are where the arch was said to be. Although I now had a better idea of the likely places, which must be visible from above as well as from the Salt River, I didn't spot any arch. Maybe I need to get closer, so I dropped down the northern slope of Panorama Peak and headed for Peak 3192. Once on the ridge of 3192 I took more photos and wandered along the ridge but found no arches along the ridge or below it.
It was originally part of my plan to continue north across the ridge then head down the right side of 3192 canyon, but with all the extra climbing and plenty of rough bush-whacking I wasn't prepared to add another thousand feet of climbing back up afterward. As it was, I didn't even want to climb back up to Panorama Peak, so I sought the shortest route down to the main drainage that I could follow all the way back up to the saddle east of Dome Mountain.
But again, in the Goldfields, there aren't many easy routes when attempting to find the shortest route. So I did more up-and-downs until finally reaching the drainage. As long as the drainage was clear it wasn't bad, but there were quite a few areas choked with debris and/or thick and thorny brush, so it was still a long slog back up to the saddle.
Once at the saddle I now had a trail to follow back to the Jeep. But about a half-mile from the Jeep I heard the sad howling of a dog, very much like what we heard a few days ago over on the Usery side of Bulldog. Again thinking of the lost dog we saw flyers for, I tried to locate the source. I got to a high point then stopped and listened and eventually heard a howl again and set off in that direction. Because the sound came from different directions as I moved around this went on for about 20 minutes, until I happened to look back over toward the trail and saw two dogs trotting up the trail. Oh great... that's the last time I go looking for a lost dog.
I have a feeling these dogs run loose pretty much wherever they want as I did not see another person the whole day or even in the Bulldog area on the drive out.
Ok, so IF I ever decided ONCE MORE to search for this elusive Overlook Arch, I'll take the same route I did for the first two attempts, at least it doesn't take over 3 hours just to reach the area like it did from this direction. |
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