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| Hiking | 7.70 Miles |
2,501 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.70 Miles | 6 Hrs 33 Mns | | 2.29 mph |
| 2,501 ft AEG | 3 Hrs 11 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I decided to start the New Year off with a bang by going deep into @LosDosSloFolks country and hike up to Sugarloaf Mountain. This was the last remaining "major" peak in the Spur Cross area that I had not summited.
I started out by going CW on the Spur Cross Loop hike. When I got to the Limestone Trail, instead of turning right I continued to the left for a short distance before following a social trail that led to Peterson Spring. This trail was well cairned and mostly easy to follow.
However, past Peterson Spring it was a total bushwhack as I either lost the use trail or it did not continue past the spring. I could see a ridgeline in the distance that went up the north slope of Sugarloaf, so that is what I aimed for. I had to go through a couple of ravines to get there. Once on the ridgeline it was a matter of heading north up the slope. It was steep but not too bad. There was a false summit up ahead, and I was happy to go around it rather than try to climb it. Once around the left side of the false summit, a ridgeline going to the true summit came into view. Once on the ridgeline, it was a fairly easy hike to the summit.
To this point, I had mostly followed the route than @hansenaz used when he summited Sugarloaf Mountain. However, he had descended down the south slope of the mountain, and I had reviewed topo maps and had already decided that descent would be too steep for my liking. So I went back north on the ridgeline for a bit, and then descended down the east side of the mountain. It was somewhat steep, but not too bad. After dropping 400 feet or so I continued the descent by looping around to the SE and then basically south once I had mostly descended the mountain. It was not the greatest off-trail travel, but I eventually made it back to the Limestone Trail, right at the springbox for Limestone Spring. From there I headed SE to the Spur Cross Trail, and took it back to the TH.
I was glad to finally get atop Sugarloaf, but the off-trail portion of this hike was a bit onerous, so I don't think that I'll do this one again anytime real soon. At least it was good practice for some other off-trail hikes that I am thinking of doing: Apache Peaks, Mount Glenn, and Coyote Mountain. |
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Peterson Spring - New River |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Both a concrete spring box and a galvanized metal tank were completely full of water. Water from a pipe was dripping into each. | | _____________________
| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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