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| Mingus Mountain Figure 8, AZ | |
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| | Mingus Mountain Figure 8, AZ | | | |
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Mingus Mountain Figure 8, AZ
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| Hiking | 21.07 Miles |
3,800 AEG |
| | Hiking | 21.07 Miles | 6 Hrs 50 Mns | | 3.33 mph |
| 3,800 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | | | |
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none
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| no partners | | Trying to find nice mountains for the summer that aren't too far from Phoenix. I'd heard of Mingus before, but not in reference to its hiking trails. Was curious to see what it was all about. I borrowed a figure 8 route a few people have uploaded to this website that seemed to hit just about every trail. What better way to get acquainted with a mountain? I added the highpoint LO and Mingus Lake to sweeten the deal. Parked at the Butterfly trailhead a little before 6am and headed up.
Started on Butterfly and by the time I was at the Middle Trail jct, I realized I had missed the turn north/West Rim. Decided to continue on Middle Trail since it heads more or less the same way. First stop was the hang gliding pad. Took a short break before I had even done any work.
Roadwalk down to Coleman. Wanted to get Coleman/Gaddes done early in the day before it got warm. Coleman was mostly shady and it goes down pretty quick. Another road over to Gaddes2. Shady and cool on the biggest ascent of the day, and water was flowing about half way up. Gaddes reminded me a little of some of the Rim canyons around Payson.
Took the road to the summit/lookout and skipped past it and down the other side through the forest to the lake. Took my only real break of the day. Had the lake to myself. I tried to focus on how nice the bottom half of the 8 was because I had a feeling that descending onto the east side and starting the upper half would be warm and generally not as good as walking through Mingus' crown of pines.
It was warmer, but there were nice views toward Secret Mountain and Humphrey's, and it was a lot clearer than the morning. It was also shadier than expected, and I don't think it was ever above low 80s. Passed one group of hikers all day with 2 miles left, but I lost count of the cars going up and down 104. All the trails were in great shape. Ended up sold on Mingus and with a dozen trails in my back pocket for the future. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Very isolated, lower elevations, a handful on Bug Hollow and Mescal |
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