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| Rock Water Spring - Pena Blanca, AZ | | -
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| | Rock Water Spring - Pena Blanca, AZ | | | |
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Rock Water Spring - Pena Blanca, AZ
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| Hiking | 3.10 Miles |
200 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.10 Miles | 2 Hrs 9 Mns | | 1.62 mph |
| 200 ft AEG | 14 Mns Break | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
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none
[ show ]
| no partners | | 6-20-2021
Rock Water Spring – Pena Blanca
West on exit 12 on I-19 – This is Ruby Road.
Right at the intersection that leads to the lake. –
Park below the water tank.
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Up until last year this road was impassable unless you had a 4wd with high clearance.
Now a passenger can make it to the gate easily. This chops off half a mile.
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From the truck to the first gate is right at half a mile and from there to the next gate is a little over a quarter mile. Both gates are locked even though the road has a FR number.
After hopping the gate head to the left. North. It leads up the canyon to Rock Water Spring.
In about 200 yards there is a split and I took the right. The original plan was to take the left. I’m not even sure why I choose the right but there were lots of small cliffs and some boulder hopping. This gradually opens up and heads to a saddle. When I saw the fence across the saddle, I realized I was at least half a mile off course.
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Instead of following the fence line I headed to a ridge to the SW with less elevation gain and from here I could see where I wanted to end up. The two top choices were to head to my original end goal or head back down the canyon on the SW side of this saddle. I opted for the latter and this came into play later.
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This canyon had lots of shade and it was very narrow in places. Not much brush and no cliffs or boulders. I kept asking myself why I was so tired. My legs were shaking and I was stumbling. I was drinking plenty of water and it was barely 90 degrees by then. Took a break in the shade and thought about the last few days. I’ve covered more ground that usual and it’s been ….. warm.
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I found one cool rock and decided to hike it back to the road and then come back with the truck and pick it up later. I got back to the first gate and heard a siren. Whoop Whoop. Two short bursts and then silence for about 5 seconds. Over and over.
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Maybe the rock was valuable? Or I hopped over two locked gates? Or tripped a sensor?
The police met me about a quarter mile from the truck and asked if I had seen anyone because they had spotted a foreign national and he was in bad shape.
When he told me where he was spotted it happened to be right where I originally planned to go today.
7:06 – left the truck
7:15 – first gate .5 mile
7:25 – second Gate - .27 mile
8:10 – low saddle – decision time
8:31 – cool rock
8:59 – first gate
9:15 – back at the truck
About 2 hours of travel time with very few rests.
3 pints of water – used 2
Cloudy day with a few breezes
Light sprinkling of rain about an hour in, |
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