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| Hiking | 3.60 Miles |
305 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.60 Miles | 1 Hour 42 Mns | | 2.12 mph |
| 305 ft AEG | | 4 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | So I was going to do a night hike the night before to photograph snakes, but I decided to go first thing in the morning instead. I'm glad that I did. I had limited time so I chose Spillway Trail - a trail very popular within the HAZ community and international peakbaggers alike.
I started out at 7:35am. I wanted to start at 6am, but mornings are not too friendly to me.
Within 20 minutes of the hike, I scored well with a daily double: 2 dback hangin' together: my 99th and 100th dback of the year! Awesome year for diamondbacks and East Valley hikers.  The one dback looks like it ate recently. Both were chill and sat patiently with me until I was satisfied with my shots.
About 10 minutes later, I came across a small coachwhip: my 41st of the year. Good year for coachwhips too. He didn't want to stick around for some glamour shots, so I let him go. Plus, I was pressed for time, so I moved on.
Next snake on the menu was a gopher snake with an interesting head pattern and an "X" on it tail. It was my 41st gopher snake. Still pressed for time, I kept moving and saw another dback a half hour later.
When I was about to call my friend and head back to the car, a large jackrabbit, about 10ft away, ran by me at full speed. About 2 seconds later, a coyote came out of the flora and chased after it at full speed. Coyote also got within 10ft but did a detour when it saw me and took off. I took off after it to get a photo. Unfortunately, it darted under a barbed wire fence and out of sight. I was combing the hillside and found it walking along on top of the hill with another coyote. In addition to the other coyote I saw in the beginning of this hike, I saw 3 coyotes today and 30 total this year.
Overall, a fabulous hike today. I just wish that I had more time. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
