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| Hiking | 9.00 Miles |
2,900 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.00 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 1.70 mph |
| 2,900 ft AEG | 43 Mns Break | 13 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Got a room in Tucson instead of camping in the cold. Grabbed breakfast at Robert’s on Grant then set off for Organ Pipe. Drove by a road grader on the way in and stopped to stretch my legs on the Arch Trail. It was already 11am so I knew I only had about 6 hours of daylight left. I wanted to see the mountains around sunset anyways for pictures so it worked out.
Hit the trail at a quarter to 12. My pace was much slower than the previous day on Hugh Norris, partly from fatigue but also because of the varied footing on this trail (flat single track is rare). The slippery SE section of trail before gaining the ridgeline brought back memories of Tin Mountain. I deemed those thoughts irrational and pressed on.
There’s one section on the east side of the backbone which required a quick scramble. I made it difficult on the way up but cruised through on the way down. I hit the ridgeline crest early and backtracked. In retrospect, all of those particular spurs end up at the same point just before the summit block.
The summit sure is airy! I stuck to the main block, though I did check the next one over for a reference mark. I heard a plane passing by and couldn’t see anything in the sky. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of a rather large plane flying on its side through the peaks below me to the east. Looked like a daring maneuver, much too fast for me to get a good picture.
Heading down took about as long as going up - a telltale sign of a badass mountain. I finished off my 3L of water along the slippery section - so glad I brought a gallon because there was still some work to do. My left knee was crapping out around the sixth or seventh mile.
I lost the trail briefly below Bull Pasture and noticed my mistake before coming to the cliffs.  Back on track, I walked by four others near the Bull Pasture sign. Opted to take Estes Canyon back down. I liked the idea of finishing the downhill section early, however that extra half mile felt tedious because of my knee.
Man, those sunset views around 5:30 were so worth the late start and constant sun in the latter half. What a gorgeous mountain range. Made it back to the car at a quarter to 6 and watched what must have been the last vehicle race by as I prepared for the drive home. Extra points for the killer sunset contrasts on the way out.
 This one’s been on my radar for a very long time and it delivered in every aspect. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
