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| Hiking | 3.15 Miles |
728 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.15 Miles | 1 Hour 38 Mns | | 2.49 mph |
| 728 ft AEG | 22 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Originally wanted to summit Black #2 or the BLACK triangulation station according to HAZ member Flying_Fliver, not sure what the heck its officially called because it's oddly and literally just labeled Black on the topo map. My initial idea was to snap some sunset photos from up there looking towards the lake and setting sun, but my plans took a different turn. During my approach I ran into a sign not far from the Lake Pleasant Desert Outdoor Center stating no entry unless special use permit so since I'm a law abiding citizen I made a detour for the summit of the real Black Mountain, well one of the 300 Black Mountains I've feel like I've heard of in AZ  I feel like land surveyors got a little lazy in our state after ahwile or something, I've heard a lot of repetitive names when it comes to creeks and mountains.
Anyway it was a very nice off trail peak to summit, very similar to Ludden Mountain in the terms of the majority of the mountain consists of large black boulders that are for the most part very stable and stacked in a way that makes it easy to ascend even with the steep gain. Made it to the first initial bench of the mountain and realized I wasn't going to have time to setup for photos unless I wanted a dark descent which I didn't feel like doing. So I dropped my bag and went off with my waterbottle and for some reason felt the urge to jog/run the remaining way up to the summit, not sure what provoked that but could have had something to do with the Watermelon Rockstar I chugged on the drive there...
Stopped where the broomstick marker was along with the register even though according to the topo map it's not the official summit, the real summit is probably only a few more feet of difference, good enough for me. Views up there were 360° of awesome and just like my hike last week on Baldy Mountain it was unbelievably quiet for being in such close proximity to civilization. Nice little hike to wind down the day, not sure if I'll ever even be home once this weather really starts to cool down, desert hiking season is almost here!  |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
