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Hiking | 7.56 Miles |
2,228 AEG |
| Hiking | 7.56 Miles | 7 Hrs 17 Mns | | 1.17 mph |
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2,228 ft AEG | 50 Mns Break | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
Partners |
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| partners | | Peter isn’t kidding about our route giving new meaning to ‘BUSHWHACK’… though with shin guards, long pants/sleeves, AND one hiking pole, I fared very well. As ridiculous as it may sound, the shin guards [AND hiking pole(s)] are total game-changers when it comes to bushwhacking. Nonetheless, the amount of THICK brush we blasted through to reach the mine tailings pile, [and then more thick brush to reach the top of the ridge], didn’t leave us with much energy to do much more than summit Bear Down Mountain and return.
Once we connected with Trail #9419 on the Bear Down Mountain ridgeline, I decided to go a few steps off trail and up to bag UN 6730… but by the time we reached the summit of Bear Down, Peter and I did not even consider investigating the other prominent points [aside from the 3-4 false summits that we needed to skirt or climb over en route to the highpoint]. Peter once again left a summit register that he graciously filled with goodies for the next lucky visitor.
On the way down, we encountered some brushy spots, but for the most part had some nice animal routes to led us much of the way down. Toward the end, there were a few patches of cat claw here and there. Relative to certain areas in Southern AZ, [for some reason the Tumacacori’s come to mind…], the amount of cat claw on this adventure would be as mild as it gets… of course, given that my trusty $9 pair of Starter bushwhacking pants can ‘repel’ cat claw to an extent – AND that Peter was in shorts – it doesn’t surprise me that his impression of it, [“wicked evil cat claw”], was a bit worse than mine.
Despite the rougher than anticipated bushwhack to the mine tailings and then up to the ridge, our adventure to Bear Down Mountain proved to be yet another awesome, Medal-style bushwhack involving: a summit [and route] with spectacular views, a variety of terrain/obstacles [ridges, drainages, brush, boulders, loose footing, and even some trail], and the fun of doing a loop vs. an out-and-back. |
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