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| Hiking | 5.40 Miles |
472 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.40 Miles | 2 Hrs 19 Mns | | 2.35 mph |
| 472 ft AEG | 1 Min Break | | | |
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| partners | | This was a late afternoon hike to Garwood Dam in the Saguaro National Monument. The monsoons are taking a short break so we started this hike at 5:30 to avoid the heat, although it was still 93 degrees out. The desert was really green and every bug that was available was out. We hiked the 2.7 miles to the dam and arrived just as the sun was about to set. There was a light flow in the creek at the dam, which has a 1 foot diameter pipe on the bottom to keep it from filling up. You could see where the dam had been overflowing during the heavy rains because the 1 foot diameter pipe could not handle all the flow. It must have been something to see because the pool behind the dam must have been 20 to 30 feet deep.
We stayed a short time at the dam but had to get back because it will dark soon. We made it about half way back before it got dark and that’s when it became interesting. There was a lot of thick grass along the trail and I was a little concerned about rattlesnakes but didn’t see any on the way in, after dark though they were out. The first one we encountered rattled and it was on the side of the trail about waist high, couldn’t see it though. Luckily Ginny had a cell phone light and with the aid of her hiking pole I located where it was at and decided it was safe to continue on. A short time later another rattler on the side of the trail all coiled up but didn’t rattle. I noticed this one when I was about 3 feet away. We were able to skirt around this one. The rest of the trail was clear of snakes but we moved slowly with the aid of her cell phone light. I do have a head lamp in my pack but didn’t feel I needed to break this out since the cell phone was working pretty well. Great hike and the temps were actually quite comfortable especially after sunset. It would have been nice to see the waterfall created by the dam. Two of the larger creeks crossing the Squeeze Pen and Carrillo trail had a light to medium flow. |
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