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| Hiking | 7.46 Miles |
733 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.46 Miles | 3 Hrs 30 Mns | | 2.13 mph |
| 733 ft AEG | | | | |
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| Partners |
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[ show ]
| partners | | Since tibber had her birthday party scheduled for this weekend at Lost Dutchman State Park. and things were supposed to kick off Friday afternoon, I figured I would do a shorter hike in the Superstition Mountains.
It’s been three years since I last did the Garden Valley-Hackberry Spring Loop, and I hadn’t previously done a hike video on it, so it fit the bill. 
Oregon_Hiker (Larry) — who I’d last hiked Little Four Peaks with two years ago — heard about my plans, so we scheduled to meet up at the First Water Trailhead at 8:00 a.m.
Rather than take the less trafficked Red Mountain Freeway, I took US-60 east because that’s where the Waffle House is, at the Idaho Rd. exit in Apache Junction. I love Waffle House, and almost always get biscuits & gravy with a side of hashbrowns. I don’t eat there often, but this time I realized they have an evil concoction called the Hash Brown Bowl: Large, scattered, hash browns covered in melted cheese with crumbled sausage and two scrambled eggs. Which I got peppered and country, basically combining my usual into one massive bowl. Try as I might, I couldn’t finish it.
When I arrived at the First Water Trailhead, Oregon_Hiker was waiting for me, as was AZLumberjack, who I’ve hiked with since 2011, on the First Water Upper Creek Loop. Jack knows the First Water area better than anyone, but he couldn’t go with us due to a knee flare up.
On the short climb up to Garden Valley, we ran into a hiker from Flagstaff, who we ended up talking to about snakes for 25 minutes. 
After checking out the arch, I led Larry a bit astray before we returned to the main trail. 
When we reached the saddle between the mine and Hackberry Spring, it was 11:00 a.m. and already getting uncomfortably warm. Oregon_Hiker and I briefly discussed our options: Head directly towards the old ranch; explore the mine, then head to Hackberry Spring; or simply head to the spring. Because of the heat, we skipped the mine, continuing towards Hackberry. A half mile past the saddle, the trail reaches the only shade on this loop, for which Larry and I were both very grateful.
At Hackberry Spring, the surrounding vegetation was, as usual, stained flourescent purple. What causes that? The water smelled like rotten eggs. What causes that? There were a ton of bees by the pool, but thankfully they stayed on one side, leaving us alone on the other while Oregon_Hiker and I took a short break.
After our break, we continued up First Water Creek. We skipped the old ranch because ... heat.
Just before returning to Trail #236, I spotted a dead, dessicated, deer. Yeah, I picked up some dead parts.
It was 93° when Larry and I got back to the trailhead. Too hot.
After some quick refreshments, and a change of shoes, we headed off to tibber’s birthday party, where we exchanged war stories with HAZ's good & great. Thanx for Saturday dinner, tibber!
Hike Video: [ youtube video ] |
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| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
