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| ECC-Horse Crossing-Blue Ridge Loop, AZ | |
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| | ECC-Horse Crossing-Blue Ridge Loop, AZ | | | |
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ECC-Horse Crossing-Blue Ridge Loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 17.51 Miles |
1,961 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.51 Miles | 8 Hrs 41 Mns | | 2.38 mph |
| 1,961 ft AEG | 1 Hour 20 Mns Break | 14 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | I threw out a bunch of options this week and this was the one that stuck. The 6.5 mile drive on FR95 is more like the I-95 "expressway". You could probably drive a sports car on it right now.
Tall Pines and water were the theme for the day. We were the first vehicle in the 17 space paved parking. We were in the creek almost immediately. For the first 6.8 miles, we were able to cross or bypass water, never getting deeper than our knees. The Canyons and views are real sweet here. At about the 4 mile mark, you hit the western section of the Kinder Crossing Trail #19. surprisingly, we never saw anyone here.
At Horse Crossing Trail #20, Chums topped off his water and we made the short lived .8 mile 500+ ft climb to FR513B above.
Next it's off to the Moqui Lookout tower. We had a discussion with Forest Service Law enforcement as to why the road/gate was closed to the tower. We determined that no "Suspicious Package" under the lookout tower was going to stop us. The Suspicious Package ended up being someones lunch.
The views from this tower were especially good. Some of the best I've seen from this Keeps 132' tall, 14' x 14' perch.
The potentially tricky part of the day was next. We had to scrabble off the top of the Rim and get down to the CC Cragin Reservoir. Chums overlaid the Property map on my GPS track and we were able to skirt the Private Property and find an old unmarked "use road", I'd seen on the Satellite Views. It worked out better than expected.
We stopped and checked out the Blue Ridge Dam for a bit and made our final push down ECC back to the vehicle. On this stretch, we had out deepest crossing of the day, up to our waist. The 2.5 miles clicked off pretty quickly.
Temps on the Garmin recorded 70 for a low, to the mid 90's a few times on the day. When in the wind, shade and/or water, it was very comfortable. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry  |
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