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| Brown Corral Chuckwagon, AZ | |
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| | Brown Corral Chuckwagon, AZ | | | |
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Brown Corral Chuckwagon, AZ
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| Hiking | 8.19 Miles |
864 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.19 Miles | 2 Hrs 55 Mns | | 2.89 mph |
| 864 ft AEG | 5 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Got my hair done and decided to do a hike over in North Scottsdale since my appt was up in the area. The last two times I hiked out of Brown's TH was Dec 7, 2014 and Dec 16, 2013 so it seemed a good time to finally revisit. Plus Linda and I are supposed to hike in this area on Tue so I wanted to make sure she could handle the peak . I also decided to try out my new shoes.
I was astonished as to how cold it is at 60 degrees with a breeze when I got out of Tonto the Third. I actually had to wear my down vest for the hike. This trail system is like the interstate highway (as to its smoothness) except for the climb up to the Summit. On this part of the hike is where I saw the only hikers I would see for the day; about ten. For the next 6 3/4 miles I would not see another hiker; altho I saw over a dozen bike riders throughout off and on.
After coming down from the summit I rounded the mountain to the north side before switching back east to hook up with the Corral Trail. The Corral Trail makes a wide swing to the west and north before heading east and south to hook up with the Dry Gulch Trail. It was really quite beautiful and I ended up taking more photos than I thot. It was such a nice change after my visit to the Superstitions on Tuesday. I was surprised to see so many Soap Tree Yuccas and I do like the gold colored grass. And of course, there are a few tall hillsides and of course the rather large Cholla Mountain. I did see a couple squirrels on my route.
The air was very clear so had good views for most of the afternoon. I took the short Dry Gulch Trail connector to hook up with the Cholla Mtn Loop. I did see a few hikers at a distance up at the Cathedral Rock area. My goal at this point was the Ampie (that's what HAZel called it) Theatre area. It's still a pretty cool place to walk around but the rocks are not very comfortable to sit on so I just re-tied my new shoe. From here it was on to the Watershed Trail which turned out to be quite scenic with all the desert-type flora. It was thick through here. I eventually crossed under the powerlines and then got on the Chuckwagon Trail heading west for the last 1 and 1/2 miles. I was walking into the sun and the breeze seemed to have died down now.
I encountered a few more bike riders and finally arrived back at Tonto III to have our first beer and snack together. Pretty fancy cars at this Trailhead for sure. A flock of fluffy quail walked across the lot; they were cold too. And now for the drive home as it was getting dark.
A nice article about the ranch: https://equitrekking.com/articles/entry ... in-arizona
WATCH: 7.7 miles in 2:57 at 2.6 avg MPH, 127 avg bpm (168 hi), 19 min Zone 5, 1:18 Zone 4 and 11:17 Zone 3. 1113 calories burned. 59 degrees, 12% humidity at 4:43PM |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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. I also decided to try out my new shoes.