| |
|
| | |
| |
| |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | | Having reached the summit of Coffee Flat Mountain via Picacho Butte, I've wondered about approaching it from the south. Looking at the map, heading up Coffee Flat Canyon and taking the NW branch, it seems possible to gain the summit ridge. I hiked in from the Peralta TH the day before and camped below the towering rock face. I was rewarded with a herd of Coati scrambling around above my camp at about 8 am. I saddled up and headed to Reeds Water and fired up the GPS. It was a simple matter to hop off the trail and into the canyon. A couple of brushy spots in the first quarter mile did not bode well, but things opened up after that. The canyon is not too brushy and I hit slick rock running water at about mile 1.4 to mile 1.7 or so. There was occasional light bushwhacking and I only had to hop up out of the canyon to circumvent brush one time. At about 2.8 miles I faced an apparently impenetrable wall of brush. I didn't hop up out of the canyon to see if hiking to the summit ridge looked doable but a previous detour around thick brush in the canyon indicated that one could make their way to the summit ridge. It took about three hours to make the 2.8 miles due to route finding challenges, but I think it can be done more quickly; my return was under 2.5 hours. I estimate that it would take five hours one way (at least for me) to make the summit starting from Reeds Water. I cairned a few spots as route finding aids and there was no evidence anyone else had been up that canyon any time recently. I highly recommend it as a day hike out of Reeds Water. |
| _____________________
| Posted from my turquoise Princess rotary dial phone. |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
