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| Hiking | 8.12 Miles |
1,772 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.12 Miles | 3 Hrs 6 Mns | | 2.80 mph |
| 1,772 ft AEG | 12 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I was very pleasantly surprised by all this little mountain range has to offer... and totally underestimated it in more ways than one! For starters, the Bolt Trail really kicked my pumpkin! I'm a strong uphill hiker and always appreciate when I can get a great workout / pumpkin-kicking without having to go off trail.
Next, the ridgeline... [or should I say ridgelines], were just awesome! In the groove after hauling pumpkin up the Bolt Trail, I decided to continue upward toward the highpoint (Flagpole Summit) instead of losing some of my hard earned elevation gain by going toward the Radio Tower Summit. The views were much better than expected; and I was surprised to see so many metal tins, each filled with log books.
Instead of looping back to hit up the Radio Tower Summit, I continued down the main Ridgeline, which was a very fun traverse! I lost track of the number of prominent points/mini peaks... one had a very large cairn about the size of those on Sombrero Peak in Tucson/Marana... another had a survey marker that was situated toward the center of what looked like some sort of rock art / medicine wheel. In addition to the main ridgeline, there were countless other ridgelines leading off the mountain in all directions, (or so it seemed.
In order to make it back before dark, I actually descended from the main ridgeline before making it to, (or even seeing), the end of it. I waited until I reached a saddle area/low point; there were also some jeep roads below. It was probably a 10th of a mile or less of bushwhacking before I reached a jeep road, (and nothing too difficult), but there was some loose footing to contend with... I was just praying that I would not encounter any bees on this segment… cuz the bees were out! I was buzzed several times during my hike, starting toward the beginning, on the Bolt Trail... luckily I never saw more than 2 to 3 bees at once, and was never chased or stung. Nonetheless, I was hiking with my bee spray in hand the entire time!
After descending from the ridgeline, (luckily uneventfully), I went a short ways down an old Jeep Road and then connected with a trail. I followed the trail counterclockwise around the Ridgeline / mountain, relative to the portion I had done. Upon looping around, I was planning to head back up the other side and bag the Radio Tower summit... but I got sidetracked doing some smaller summits and ridgelines. I will definitely be hitting up this little mountain range again; it is a perfect leg-stretcher/ perfect use of time while PHX Rush hour works itself out! |
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| God save the Prom Queen, cuz [reality check!] AEG's King...! |
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