| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 9.16 Miles |
2,759 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.16 Miles | 6 Hrs 15 Mns | | 2.03 mph |
| 2,759 ft AEG | 1 Hour 44 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
[ show ]
| partners | | Started out the weekend with an ambitious plan to drive up from Tempe super early Saturday morning, hike Kendrick Peak, then camp at the foot of Humphrey's and give that one a try on Sunday! Everything worked great until we stayed up too late Friday night, woke up late Saturday morning, and got started on Kendrick peak trail around noon. Within about 30 minutes we were huffing and puffing, and blaming it all on the altitude/humidity, but we got a good excuse to turn around when clouds turned into rolling thunder, light hail, and heavy rain. The failed hike only got us two miles round trip! but, what better excuse is there to turn around, stop at lava river cave for a few minutes, and head back to Flagstaff for some Bigfoot Barbecue.
Deciding that we wanted to try to complete the Kendrick hike the next day instead of continuing on to Humphrey's, we headed back and camped at the foot of the mountain. There were a few mud puddles on the trails we took to find a nice campsite, but nothing too bad, and the rest of the ground had dried up pretty well during the afternoon. Despite camping pretty close to the trailhead, we took our time and got a relatively late start the next morning.
The hike up was beautiful. The transitions between older pine trees, new areas densely filled with ferns, and areas full of birch trees were striking. The areas affected by the fire were similarly beautiful, giving us a few amazing views to the south. One frustrating part was the switchbacks! I know hiking directly up the side would be impossible, but so much of this trail seems like you're "almost there" before you realize there are a dozen more invisible switchbacks across a relatively short ascent. A few areas (those covered with the dense new growth) were oppressively humid, and walking through felt like a jungle, but those areas only lasted a couple minutes each. The trail was easy going once we got up to the old fire tower cabin (very neat to check out, and I'm glad there hasn't been too much vandalism here), and at the top of the peak the 360-degree view from the lookout tower was absolutely amazing.
As usual, down was quicker, but also tough on my knees. I think this trip decided that I should invest in some trekking poles. No rain or even clouds for us today (funny, since thunderstorms were originally forecast for Sunday and none for Saturday!) but we could see that the top of Humphrey's was pretty clouded. Very glad we decided to hike the beautiful Kendrick peak instead. |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
