| |
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 1.25 Miles |
325 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.25 Miles | 59 Mns | | 1.70 mph |
| 325 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | This evening's goal was to hike to the top of Martinez Hill, recover a benchmark, and see naturally occurring water in the Santa Cruz River.
Starting at the end of Martinez Drive, there was a witness post for a survey marker, which I did not find. I maneuvered over a downed mesquite branch covered in thorns and continued down the power line trail for a short distance. Then I turned left down another power line trail, this one being covered in grass and had a tiny bit of a grade. In-between the grass, volcanic rocks showed themselves. This trail them converges with a track that leads up to two water tanks. I turned right here and followed the track to its end. The. I followed a trail that started heading up the hill. At first it was also covered with grass but then as the terrain steepened and the ground became rockier it was present sparsely. The trail was fairly well defined up until about 32.1070384, -110.9854177. the trail disappears and you are left to bushwhack. From that point the distance to the point where the terrain flattens out is miniscule. From where the terrain flattens out I walked through a grassland with the occasional cactus and shrub. Every once in a while there will be rings of loose rock that I had to cross. There was a small summit just beyond where the terrain flattens out. After this it was a straight shot to the real summit. The terrain steepened into rock for a couple feet until I first found reference mark 1. The disk was the original from 1959 however it was badly beaten and barely decipherable. At first, I didn't realize it was a reference mark as it was on a summit just a couple feet from the actual summit. I then got on top of the actual summit where I found the 1973 main disk. It was in good condition and only had 2 small gashes. Next, I found reference mark 3, a disk from 1982. It only had a couple very minor scratches. Reference mark 2 was gone, as only its stem was found, which explains the existence of reference mark 3. You could not see the part of the Santa Cruz River that was flowing from any of the hike sadly. After taking a panorama, I headed back down.
Initially, I didn't follow my original path. I got back on it though and discovered a couple things I missed going up. First, I found an old grinding stone. Next, I found a rock that had "1935 (1835?) CARLOS" engraved in it. Finally, just as I was looking down at my phone to see if I was on track to be at where the trail ends, I saw a giant cairn with sticks coming out of it straight ahead of me. After this I got onto the trail and headed back the way I came.
The views were pretty great, this was a good way to spend an hour today.  |
|
Wildflowers Observation None
No flowers were observed. |
|
| _____________________
| | | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
