DESTINATION Skull Mesa Highpoint 1 Photoset
2021-01-11 | |
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| Hiking | 14.10 Miles |
3,396 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.10 Miles | 8 Hrs 8 Mns | | 2.24 mph |
| 3,396 ft AEG | 1 Hour 50 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | After hiking Sugarloaf Mountain on New Years Day, I decided to head back out to Spur Cross and hike up to Skull Mesa this time. U have been up on the Mesa several times before, and I like to do it at least once every winter.
I took Trail 247A both inbound and outbound, which shaved some distance and elevation gain off of the hike. Once on the mesa, I took a break at the overlook, and then went off-trail over to the highpoint of the mesa. It was a fairly easy off-trail, and I was careful to dodge the plethora of low-growing prickly pear cactus that is lurking underneath the knee high grass on the mesa.
I took another break at the high point, and then traversed to the middle of the mesa to check out some metates and petroglyphs that I had seen on previous Skull Mesa hikes. At least one of the petroglyphs was x-rated, providing a glimpse into 13th century ****.
I thought about continuing to the fort ruins on the north end of the mesa, but I have been there several times and decided that the hike would be as long as I wanted without going to the fort ruins.
It was a good day to be out on a hike. I did not see anyone all day until I got within a mile or so back to the TH. It was breezy in the morning, and with the wind it was a bit chilly. It was a sunny day, and it was too warm for me on the way back even though the temperature was in the mid 60's. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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