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| Hiking | 6.55 Miles |
440 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.55 Miles | 2 Hrs 45 Mns | | 2.62 mph |
| 440 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | 6 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Woke up to a nice rain this morning and the weather prognosticators said it would end by 10am. We went to the MSPN Browns Ranch Trailhead at 11am and not long into our hike the cloud cover dropped down to about 100' AGL and a heavy mist started. It was not too bad to hike in and it gave the desert quite a beautiful look.
As soon as we got about 3 miles out the temps dropped 20 degrees and the mist turned into a wind driven light rain. I had a waterproof top on but soon we were pretty well wet and cold. We took cover under a rock ledge outcropping to eat and dry off a little. On the ground were maybe six metates ground into the bedrock. The Hohokam people apparently used this shelter 800 years ago to grind mesquite beans out of the sun.
This northern section of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is huge. We've hiked up here from two of the four trailheads on many occasions and have only scratched the surface of the plethora of trails provided. The tread has been in superb shape on every trail we've been on. The whole area is granite so the trails are nice and sticky.
As we made our way back towards our car we had to pass under the high tension power lines which parallel a dirt road near the trailhead. The 100% humidity and rain had the lines buzzing so loud it was spooky. The buzz was so loud it was echoing off of the wet ground and bushes at our feet. Cathy made the sign of the cross and we double timed it under the wires.  |
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| "If you wait, all that happens is you get older" |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
