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| Hiking | 9.00 Miles |
500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.00 Miles | | | |
| 500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | No elevation gain, burros, petroglyphs and a lake view was all I needed to say to get a few friends to join me on this hike. Beautiful weather and a little cloud cover helped us to enjoy this very exposed trail even more. Sadly, wildflowers were minimal. A few hyacinths on the far side and some fiddleneck just starting. There are a fair amount of ground starts, so perhaps more will appear if weather conditions permit.
Having done this trail a few times is helpful. More cairns than I remember—especially on the counter clockwise routing to the Big Jim. The trail past that point can be tricky in a few places so it is worth your while to have the track.
I suggest stopping at the petroglyphs at the start because your companions will be more eager at mile two than at mile eight to make the detour.
While I love the view to Lake Pleasant toward the end of the counter clockwise loop... it does a mental number on your head as to the finish expectation. Having encountered this “we must be close” previously, I told the fellow hikers that we still had a bit more to do. My words were
wasted as most every conversation from that point on concerned trail design and proximity to the end. They also figured out that you could finish faster walking the wash out... but they weren’t leading the hike so on we marched. Besides, I still hadn’t seen the Gila Monster I wanted to see.
Once the parking lot was undeniable, both friends remarked how much they enjoyed this trail. For myself, a stop at the Arizona Game and Fish Expo netted me my desired Gila Monster viewing opportunity. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Some hyacinth, fiddleneck and the starts of a few others. Barrel and hedgehog starting too. Won’t be much this year. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
