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| Hiking | 11.10 Miles |
2,794 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.10 Miles | | | |
| 2,794 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I decided to head to the beautiful, rugged, and seductive Goldfield Mountains to do two hikes today: 1)Top Hat and the Arches, and 2)Dome Mountain.
For hike #1, we drove in from the Wolverine Gate into the Bulldog Canyon OHV area and took FR1356 to just below Top Hat Hill and parked. From there we made our way to Kissing Turtles Arch and Overlook Arch. To get there we first took a couple of trails -- the Hope is Lost Trail and the Horse With No Name Trail -- and then did some off-trail hiking to get to the arches. Then we went almost all the way back to where we parked, and took a social trail that led up to Palo Verde Arch. Instead of taking the trail all the way to the arch, we took the trail a portion of the way to the arch, and then went off-trail up to Top Hat Hill. After enjoying the summit views, we followed a ridgeline over to Palo Verde Arch. We hung out there a bit, and then descended on the social trail back down to Orohai Wash/Hope is Lost Trail, and then back to my truck.
For hike #2, we drove back to the Dome Mountain TH and parked. Then we did an out-and-back hike up to Dome Mountain. The trail up to the summit is easy to follow, but for some reason fools have painted lines and arrows along the way. The Goldfields are too close to Phoenix I guess.
It was a great day to be in the Goldfields. The 360 degree views at both summits were awesome, and we saw no other hikers all day. While on top of Top Hat Hill, we saw some horseback riders make their way to Palo Verde Arch, but they had left by the time we made our way to the arch.
Mileage/Elevation gain for the 2 hikes are:
1) Top Hat and the Arches: 7.1 miles with 1,451' of elevation gain
2) Dome Mountain: 4.0 miles with 1,343' of elevation gain
The stats above are the sum of these 2 |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
There were some chuparosa blooming, but that was it for wildflowers |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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