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| Hiking | 7.51 Miles |
2,197 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.51 Miles | 2 Hrs 56 Mns | | 2.56 mph |
| 2,197 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Last month when I knocked off Placer & Keystone Peaks in the Sierritas (hikearizona.com/x.p ... 7376), I wasn’t kidding in my triplog when I mentioned the “AMAZING bushwhacking potential” of this little range. With my equilibrium very much improved, I was finally able to do some fun bushwhacking in the Sierritas while grabbing another off-trail peak [Ritchey] in the process. I had drawn up a ‘quatrafecta’ but with tons of personal biz to square away, I decided that setting foot on the trails at 5-6 AM was not happening. Launching 3 hours later than anticipated, [and with barely 3 hours to squeeze in a hike by that point], I had time to grab only one of the four peaks I was targeting. Even still, I had an exceptional adventure; and with all that was going on this weekend, I was thankful just to hit the trails at all.
I took off from the Keystone Peak TH described here ( [ description ] ) and headed up the same dirt road that leads to Keystone Peak. However, this time it wasn’t more than 1 mile before I was off the trail/jeep road and bounding up a hillside to reach the top of a random ridgeline that proved to be a super fun traverse. I’d drawn out a few route options in the event Route Scout topo decided to misbehave, but for the most part, the terrain was friendly enough that I could really ‘wing-it’. The game plan was to simply bag one of the four peaks on my list, get back in time for my personal biz, and throw in as much bushwhacking as possible in the process. All objectives were accomplished with ease.
With excellent terrain in terms of both visibility and maneuverability, this adventure proved to be an absolute blast. Instead of battling brush or slowing to a crawl to negotiate super tough terrain, the off-trail portions were so forgiving that my leg strength and/or lung capacity proved to be the limiting factors in terms of my pace, [something that does not happen very often]. To top things off, the scenery was exceptionally beautiful throughout; just as beautiful if not more so than my first Sierrita adventure to Placer & Keystone Peaks. However, with so many more peaks, ridgelines, hillsides, drainages, etc. to explore, it feels like I once again just scratched the surface in terms of all the fun to be had in this sweet little range.
As for Ritchey Peak, it was a super fun ascent and descent; and with very forgiving terrain, I was easily able to pull off my signature ‘up & over’ the peak. Given that I was pushing myself harder than normal in terms of pace to get back on time for my biz, the ascent really kicked my butt and got my heart pounding and legs burning. There is actually a summit register on Ritchey, and it’s located right by the highpoint under a rock pile. The register does not have a notebook but it does contain the bare-bones basics: a container [=a small glass bottle about the size of a Snapple bottle], a very small writing implement [=a pencil], and something to write on [=a single small envelope]. Unless there is another register on the peak that I missed, [or unless another register exited at one point and was lost, stolen, removed, etc.], I was only the 2nd person to sign-in on this peak in almost two decades. On the envelope that is serving as the summit log, the top states, “RITCHEY PK EL 5144” and below that is the name of the person who placed the register and the date he did so / bagged the peak: “MARK NICHOLS 9-14-96”. Right below Mark’s entry from September of 1996, I signed in on 7/30/16. It felt both neat and weird to be the 2nd person to sign the register in nearly 20 years. Finally, I do apologize for dirtying the bottom right corner of the envelope with my blood… the bushwhack was easy enough that it was one of the few occasions where I opted for shorts over my usual, trusty bushwhacking pants. Naturally, this resulted in a few very minor scrapes that I hadn’t even noticed until after dirtying the envelope. That said, the small flies that were SWARMING around on the summit are partly to blame… had I not been swatting ferociously to get them off my arms, legs, face, etc., I would not have gotten blood on my fingers… and then on the register. And speaking of wildlife, aside from the flies, some birds, and a few deer, I encountered nothing exciting [or dangerous/freaky] during my adventure… but I saw a red-racer race off the road while driving to the TH, [about 1 mile away]; and on the drive back, [about 13 miles from the TH], I had mercy on a medium-sized diamondback that refused to move as I swerved my Forester to avoid hitting it. |
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| God save the Prom Queen, cuz [reality check!] AEG's King...! |
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