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| Random Desert Bushwhack, AZ | |
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| | Random Desert Bushwhack, AZ | | | |
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Random Desert Bushwhack, AZ
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| Hiking | 5.17 Miles |
633 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.17 Miles | 1 Hour 59 Mns | | 2.75 mph |
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| 633 ft AEG | 6 Mns Break | | |
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none
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | I’m usually good at listening to my intuition, but eagerness to hit the trails, coupled with a super stressful week led me to go against my gut in choosing today’s hike. Luckily, the only “consequences” were failing to make either of the two summits I was targeting and failing to hit my normal quadruple-digit AEG… certainly not the end of the world by any stretch.
I was shooting for some summits at the very SE end of the Santa Ritas: Squaw Peak [which lies within the boundary line of the range] and Salero Mountain, [which lies just outside of the boundary line to the West and slightly North of Squaw Peak]. Going into this, I new that access was going to be an issue, based on private property lines, gates I observed on satellite imagery, etc. I’d mapped out several potential access points / back-up access points, but given the fact that I was in a time crunch, [and knowing what a B!TCH access can be in my neck of the woods], I should have just saved this for an occasion when I had more time.
At any rate, despite not even coming close to either of the planned summits due to private property / access issues, I still had an awesome “hike” which consisted of mostly bushwhacking on surprisingly generous terrain, [excellent visibility & excellent maneuverability]. In addition to some off-trail fun, the scenery was exceptionally beautiful; and, although still facing mild to moderate impairments with my equilibrium, there was noticeable improvement from the previous weekend, enough for me to start back with some basic bouldering… [a solid Class 3 climb to get down into a small canyon wasn’t exactly what I had in mind; but I wanted to get across and, although still not 100%, I luckily managed to do so without feeling like I was put myself in too much risk].
As it got close to the time I needed to turn around, I looked for some destination points on the topo and found a few things: UN 4402, [which isn’t much of a summit but offers some killer views of the Santa Ritas], some small Communication Towers out in the middle of no where [which don’t really compare to the towers found on most summits but were still fun to check out], and UN 4391 [a fun little ‘foothill’ type of “summit” near the Communication Towers and in the general direction I needed to go to get back to my vehicle].
Toward the end as I was crossing a small shallow wash, I was startled by some loud noises and looked up to see several equally startled javelina, [including a few babies], take off running the other way. A few of them stopped to look at what they perceived a potential threat [i.e. me]. There were at least 10-15 and likely a lot more based on the sound. Thanks to the many mesquite trees and like desert vegetation, I couldn’t accurately see how many there were, and I sure as heck wasn’t hanging around to find out. I continued on my way and luckily they did not try to follow. |
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LET’S GO BRANDON!  |
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