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| DEL Benchmark Out and Back, AZ | |
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| | DEL Benchmark Out and Back, AZ | | | |
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DEL Benchmark Out and Back, AZ
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| Hiking | 1.27 Miles |
165 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.27 Miles | 58 Mns | | 1.36 mph |
| 165 ft AEG | 2 Mns Break | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | Today's goal was to look for some USACE locations in the NGS database and get "DEL".
I started at the church to look for the USACE locations which had no description other than a name and coordinates. Turns out there was a fence surrounding the whole church property so I couldn't easily get to them from the church. I walked down to the "bike path" and followed it to the first two locations. Nothing at the first, nothing at the second. When looking for anything at the second there was a ferocious buzzing around my head. I tried waving around my hat and then my hand. I think it somehow got stuck in my hair. I pull it out and it stung me on the finger. Wasn't bad though. There was nothing at location 3 so I turned around and headed back to the parking lot to look for DEL.
I started at the "Heavy Trucks" parking. I was a bit scared I couldn't even start the adventure because of the barbed wire fence surrounding the church property. In a stroke of luck, there was a carabiner holding together the middle wire of the fence (32.479438, -110.929648). I could easily fit through the top and bottom wires of the fence. I headed down the ridge into the wash, the steepest part of the hike. After that it was a mix of hiking through washes, dead foxtail barley, and dead amaranth (ouch!). I tried avoiding the amaranth except when a game trail went right through it. I'm honestly getting used to dead grass getting in my shoes and socks though. Just a routine part of hiking in the desert. After this hiking I made it to an old watering place for wildlife (cows? horses?) built in 1974. There were two water tanks filled with water and one trough. The water tanks had some decently clear water with some algae. They seem to pump water from the aquifer. After this I headed 50 feet up a wash to a bike trail. I took this to a fork with a slightly overgrown trail that goes to the left while the bike trail goes to the right. (32.478466, -110.934982) Take this trail to 32.479378, -110.935682. Then pack up the ridge and to the station. Once the ridge levels out there are beautiful views of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Following the ridge, you will first encounter Reference Mark 2 on your left. You then can follow the arrow to a spiny hackberry. The station is just on the other side of it from Reference Mark 2. The witness post had no sign. On the mark you can follow the direction of one of the nails to Reference Mark 1. The other nail points towards Reference Mark 2. After taking in the moment, I headed back along the path I took to get to the marks, squeezed through a barbed wire fence, and went home. This was a fun hike and I'm glad the benchmark is in good condition!  |
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Autumn Foliage Observation None
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Wildflowers Observation None
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