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| no partners | | | A success in several ways. I wanted to get a short backpack in; my last one in Utah ended up in my first ever visit to an ER and took about a month and a half for me to fully recover. I was a little afraid that was it for backpacking. Also I wanted to play and photograph the snow, and not see anyone for at least the day and in camp. I achieved that by driving a little ways toward Sand Tank in the Santa Teresa mtns and then walking up the jeep trail to Devil's tank, in a small canyon at the foot of the southeasterly facing Pinnacle Ridge. The views along this road are incredible; without snow it is still HC and 4wd to the tank. The Galiuros' and Pinalenos were white covered and the skies gloomy then sun at times. The vegetation was wonderful, like a flash freeze, coating everything in ice and the trees with a heavy snow load. I estimate 4-6 inches on the average, on up from where I parked about 8-10. The road walk saved me but breaking trail with a backpack and the steepness was work. Good to get rid of some of those Christmas cookies. I camped in the trees near the tank, walked around and photographed some things. There is an old trail Brian and I tried a few years ago that heads toward the ridgeline but no way in this much snow. It was a cold but bearable night,my boots froze and I had a hard time getting my feet in there in the morning even though I had them in the bivy; as I hiked out listened to the growing sound of running water in the canyons below. This next week and maybe into the weekend should be incredible for water flow in these mountain ranges. I was slogging near a wellhead when I heard a motor and up pulled a 4 person quad with three hunters in it. I got a ride back to the car, and I was entertained by the driver who had been hunting in this area since the early 80's; they were camped near Klondyke and said most everything froze there. The drive home uneventful and fun looking at the pics, will be a while before I get them up. Gotta hang out all the wet stuff in the garage to dry out. |
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