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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
1,651 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | 3 Hrs 50 Mns | | 2.09 mph |
| 1,651 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Our original goal for the day was the Coke Ovens near Cochrane. Knowing we would reach the limit of the capability of my CR-V long before the ovens we were prepared to hike a reasonable distance. However, that point came soon enough we were on foot much farther from the ovens than we would have time for. But no matter, we figured it would be more of a recon hike to be more prepared next time.
Shortly into our hike we came to a point above and across the wash from a large petroglyph site, and saw a group of rock crawling Jeeps slowly attempting to traverse the area immediately below and in front of the petroglyphs. We got a treat of watching (and getting on video) the trials and travails of the group. We took a number of petroglyph photos but when one of the Jeeps had a mechanical failure and ended up stuck, we headed out, planning on taking more photos once the area was clear.
Continuing along the Cottonwood Canyon "road" whenever we came to a point where the road would cross the wash we would decide whether to follow the wash or the road. Being such a nice day there was quite a bit of traffic on the route including rock crawlers, various stock and modified 4x4's, quads, rhino's and motorcycles. A few times on the way in and back out people would stop and ask if we were ok. After a few times I was almost about to say, "yeah, our Jeep broke down out by the oven's and we could use a ride out there." And then when they got us there we'd say "someone stole our Jeep!" and ask for a ride back to our "other" vehicle where it was parked. That way we could have gotten to our destination without a ton of hiking or ruining my vehicle. But as much as it seemed like a fun idea, its just not something I'd actually do.
When we came to a high point where a number of quad'ers were taking a (beer) break I noticed a glint on the hill behind them. So we headed up the hill to check it out, finding a group of seven gravesite/memorials. After taking photos of the whole group we looked around to see if we had found them all and saw a large pile of rocks. After a quick perusal of the pile we found a round tin that turned out to be a geocache. We opened it, signed the log, took nothing, left nothing then put it back in place. After a glance at the GPS to see how far it was to the ovens and taking in the view in the direction we'd have to go, we figured we'd gone enough for the day and headed back to the car.
On the return trip whichever route we had taken (wash or road) previously, we went the other way to find the easiest route for our next foray into the area. About halfway back to the car here comes the group of rock crawlers we saw hours before, ripping by us like they were on the way to a fire. I suppose if it took them that long to take care of the mechanical issues and get unstuck, they were well behind schedule. Thankfully when we returned to the petroglyph area not a soul was around and we had unfettered access to the petroglyphs for close-up photos. A short walk back to the car and we headed back out to 79, up to the 60 and east to recon the road out to the old Remert Mine for another future trip. We went as far as a gate to open to pass through then turned around and headed home, armed with enough information to plan 2-3 new forays into the same area. |
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