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| Hells Hip Pocket Ridge from Cottonwood Camp, AZ | |
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| | Hells Hip Pocket Ridge from Cottonwood Camp, AZ | | | |
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Hells Hip Pocket Ridge from Cottonwood Camp, AZ
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| Hiking | 20.52 Miles |
4,797 AEG |
| | Hiking | 20.52 Miles | 10 Hrs 39 Mns | | 2.13 mph |
| 4,797 ft AEG | 1 Hour 1 Min Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | This hike is a ball buster. It's not the 20 miles or the 4800 feet of gain it's the never ending rocks, hidden rocks and hidden cacti. The payoff is well worth all the BS. Wow.
We started just before the sun was coming up and finished as it was going down. A good use of all available light.
The last time I was on lower Soldier #84, there was no real path to begin. It follows the drainage and was chocked with trees and brush. Since the fire and subsequent rains, it is now the smoothest and easiest part of the entire hike. Unfortunately, it only lasts for a mile, before the climb out of the drainage begins.
The climb up Lower Soldier is a steep one. For the remainder of this hike, a GPS track is highly encouraged. There are cairns along the way, but the grass covers them up in many places. We hit the climb during the golden hour, so the views were extra special. The rain from the previous days had cleared the skies all around us.
We hit FR401 for the road walk portion. This road seems to be much worse that the last time I was on it, and it was not good then. When it's tough to walk on, it's tough to drive on.
The area at the Cane Spring TH seemed to be the worst burnt area we saw. All in all there was much more unburned than burned area. The areas we hiked, seemed to be 95% untouched.
The Circle Bar Ranch building is either new or refreshed. It was very clean and smelled almost new on the inside.
There was an old cement foundation in front of it. Maybe the old building? The drainage that's Cane Spring Canyon has flashed and is completely uncross-able by a vehicle. It actually had a decent flow still going from the recent rain
Alder Creek Trail #82 is an old FR. It disappears in many places but is not hard to find. We were only on this trail for about a mile, before we started our off trail journey. It was mainly grassy landscape with the before mentioned hidden surprises.
The payoff was starting to come into view after gaining Peak 3509. Apache Lake, the geographically splendiferous Superstitions and Four Peaks Wilderness are just jaw dropping. You don't take in these type of view anywhere else.
We fought the forecasted 5-10mph winds that were closer 20-25mph. At our turnaround and lunch destination we were lucky enough to find a place with tremendous views as well as shelter from the wind. We sat on a cliff on the north side of the Salt River, overlooking the Salt River Project Housing and Horse Mesa.
Lunch Spot: [ youtube video ]
If this area was easier to access, I'd love to do more exploring around here.
The hike back was uneventful and all we could think about was getting back to the last one mile stretch of smooth sailing in the wash.
Temps were a tad cool in the morning with the winds but were manageable all day. The wind finally started to lie down around 3pm.
Cane Spring trailhead area has burned pretty good
Lunch and turn around spot
[ youtube video ] |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Cane Spring |
Quart per minute |
Quart per minute |
| | | Full trough of clear cool water surrounded much cow splop . | | _____________________
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry  |
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