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| Campaign Fireline Circlestone, AZ | |
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| | Campaign Fireline Circlestone, AZ | | | |
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Campaign Fireline Circlestone, AZ
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| Backpack | 19.26 Miles |
3,307 AEG |
| | Backpack | 19.26 Miles | 34 Hrs 22 Mns | | 1.27 mph |
| 3,307 ft AEG | | | | |
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| Partners |
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[ show ]
| partners | | | Crazy Campaign - A tale of many lessons. A small group of us planned a backpacking trip with a final destination of mound mountain. We would take campaign trail to Fireline trail and then head towards Circlestone to camp, then day hike to mound & hike back out. We met at 8am on Saturday and started hiking close to 9am. The road to campaign TH is actually in excellent condition, we made it all the way in a Subaru. There were some water crossings but not too deep. So we start out on campaign trail and are pretty much right away surprised {saddened} by all the fire damage. The trail is in rough shape. There are burned sections everywhere, tons of ash and excessive amounts of catclaw growing back in. Now in terms of route finding, it wasn’t too difficult and some cairns were helpful in tricky spots. There were several creek crossings (I lost count!) which I hadn’t had too much prior experience with in a backpacking pack, little bit trickier with all that weight! It was hard to move fast on this trail due to bushwhacking, route finding, creek crossings, eroded trail, etc. There was a ton of clean looking water, plus some stagnant pools throughout the trail...but they get smaller as you continue on towards Fireline. After the intersection of Fireline and campaign we took a long break for lunch and evaluated our options. We determined that the route was essentially going straight up with lots of bushwhacking. Originally we had planned to backpack up there and camp near Circlestone. However, it was very windy and we didn’t want to be camping at even higher elevations with additional wind/cold, plus didn’t want to bushwhack up 1k feet of gain with 35 lb packs. Alas we set up camp near the trail intersection in a valley area, shielded from the wind a bit, decided to get up early to hike up to Circlestone & mound. It was cold FAST at night and we were all bundled up in all of our layers. I personally don’t have the best gear at this point and my sleeping bag wasn’t keeping me warm enough and I was cold all night long. In the morning, I was having a hard time getting moving being so cold, so half the group started around 40 mins prior. When we went to fill up my water, we realized it was completely frozen and I couldn’t fill it up. We started our hike and were following the groups footprints; we actually saw them towards the top of the saddle. We realized they had taken the wrong path and went straight up a sketchy drainage - it was much better, had some switchbacks, etc on the right side (go up this way). This was really steep and challenging getting to the saddle. The trail conditions improved dramatically after passing the saddle and heading towards Circlestone. It was quite pleasant hiking up there despite its steepness. There is a climb getting up to Circlestone & the terrain is very damaged/ashy. We finally met up with the rest of the group and they informed us that they only made it to Circlestone. Reasoning was that mound looked extremely intimidating and like it would take a couple of hours to hike up. Knowing we still had to pack up camp and hike out, sadly we realized we just didn’t have enough time in the day. James & I continued on to Circlestone to check it out. I don’t know the history of it very well, but it wasn’t that exciting, lol. I got to see mound up close and then say goodbye, till another day. The hike back down to Fireline from the saddle was brutal on the legs with all the loose rocks. We packed up camp, decided to do snacks instead of lunch, then headed on out. The hike back out on campaign was quite unpleasant and that terrain just grows tiring after several miles. We saw kitty prints on our exit, then heard a large animal scurrying away. Yikes! We did finish the last two miles in the dark which just intensified the misery. So many lessons were learned from this trip. 1) should have researched campaign trail conditions more, 2) coming in through Reavis and doing 2 nights / 3 days is the way to go for this trip. 3) backpacking in the winter is not my favorite. 4)a full day should be allotted for the summit of mound. (I know some do this in a day hike but those people are not me, lol). It was a good weekend for a butt kicker and the solitude was awesome! Would not hike on campaign trail again unless conditions drastically change. We will be back for the summit of mound! |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Some purple flowers, poppies - yay spring |
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| Restless between adventures... |
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