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| Hiking | 7.19 Miles |
941 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.19 Miles | 4 Hrs 21 Mns | | 2.10 mph |
| 941 ft AEG | 56 Mns Break | 8 LBS Pack | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | Angela, aka tibber, which has recently changed to "The Tibbernator"  invited us out to the Goldfields to see a natural arch formation known as "The Mask". One of the two arches comprising the mask has collapsed, so what we actually visited is now referred to as the "Cyclops". Loop shown in photoset.
Not three minutes after arrival at the Idaho Trailhead Johnlp pulled in next to us followed immediately by Kelly (trekking_gecko). We had never met either of these two HAZ regulars prior to this but recognized both of them from their logs we've been reading over the past year. Had no idea they were joining us because why would two ultra strong hikers want to do a measly 7 mile loop with a couple of people 15 months off the sofa? Possibly because tibber didn't want to endure the slow torture alone. 
All the others had hiked these trails before on numerous occasions but all day long we kept hearing "Oh...I don't remember seeing that before" or "look how pretty this view is". Hiking with the SloFolks has it's advantages. When we slow you down from a 3.50 mph pace to a sub 2.25mph pace you get to re-experience why we all do this in the first place. 
Won't go into a lot of details about the hike as most members have been out here and the photos tell a better story than I can anyway. During the climb up we saw two hikers far below in the wash and exchanged waves. As we were leaving the Cyclops and were starting the descent the two hikers showed up at the top. One fellow was from Wyoming and the other from Canada. They both said "eh" a lot. Angela is from northern Montana originally so they chatted for a while on common knowledge.
John and Kelly had energy to burn so near the end of the loop they headed up a side canyon to investigate a possible arch/cave/alcove we had seen from above. From our vantage point we saw them cause a good sized Great Horned Owl to take flight from his daytime sleep. He flew at Mach 1 for several hundred yards to find a new bed. Kelly has a great photo of the displaced avian in her photoset.  They didn't find another arch but did find a grinding hole in the alcove used by the Hohokam to get out of the sun.
It was really nice to meet Kelly and John. Very nice people as we thought they would be. Thanks to both of you for the good company and your patience on the trail! Afterwards we enjoyed a nice lunch with Angela at "Los Gringos" restaurant...and thanks again for the invite. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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| "If you wait, all that happens is you get older" |
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Route Editor
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