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| Hiking | 6.82 Miles |
686 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.82 Miles | 3 Hrs 25 Mns | | 2.51 mph |
| 686 ft AEG | 42 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I got the invite from Kelly to join her and John and Greg for a hike up in our part of the Valley. We met up at the TH. I think the fairly new paved road to the TH has gotten old fast with missing pavement and holes and bumps. However, the TH has been dressed up with these now bright yellow parking blocks. I guess they hope you won't miss them in the dark or something? We paid our fee and "headed on out" as kingsnake says.
We took the Spur Cross/Maricopa Trail/FR48 road north. After blowing by the FairyDuster Trail (due to chatting) we had meant to take, we stopped at the petroglyph just off Cottonwood Creek. I would have forgotten about it if Greg hadn't said something. Next up was the fording of the Creek; a feat we would have to accomplish a few times. The boys all made the crossings look easy but Kelly and I were a little more judicious in our selections of the best route to avoid getting our feet wet. This would be a challenge for us initially but coming back we cruised the water crossings.
We did encounter a group of about 1/2 dozen hikers after our second water crossing (where you crisscross the creek) but we would lose them after the crossing to the corral as they went up 252. At the Skull Mesa sign/Jct 4, we discussed a couple different options than the Loop but opted to keep the original plan so up Cave Creek Trail #4 we went eventually heading northish, hooking up with the gated Trail 4. It's a pretty rocky hike up but a decent enough grade. There were some blooming Wiry Lotus and Fairy Dusters alongside the road/trail. Kelly and John were ahead quite a bit as they made good time.
After getting thru the gate we took the even rockier FR1533 NW rather than the smoother looking Trail 4 to the NE. It's hard to believe FR1533 was a road and even more curious, why? There was a road below, FR48, unless they needed this road in case the creek was running high... but how often could that be to have a secondary road? There is a lot of beautiful colored bedrock on part of this road too.
We got up to the rock outcropping that goes west off the road. I could see some horses had been up there from the hoofprints scattered about. The rocks are so pretty and of course, the views are outstanding. You have a real good look at the old mining area and the geology below New River Mesa to the north.
And then it was down the still somewhat rocky road. Greg pointed out Chalk Canyon to Kelly and John. We spotted Alston's palm tree on the other side of the creek and admired the views to Skull Mesa. Once back down to the creek we opted not to see the glyphs as there was a schedule involved and if we wanted to have lunch and visit with Cathy, there wouldn't be enough time. We headed south with only one minor creek crossing where Kelly picked up one of nature's hiking sticks, though she abandoned it later for a lighter one.
We merged up with FR48 and as I stated previously, we had no problem with the rest of the creek crossings as we just went to the spots we had previously crossed. After the corral area we started to encounter more and more people; guess they were out hiking before the Super Bowl. It was a lovely morning to be out hiking. Kelly left her hiking stick with a family at the Metate Trail entrance. We stopped and admired the mighty saguaros, checked out the pond (still wonder what happened to the camera) and made our last planked crossing of Cave Creek.
The TH was now full of a lot more cars. We followed Greg to the Grotto, too crowded and then Big Earl's, too crowded, and then Greg's house, just right. I had a couple Huck beers for us and Greg and Cathy had snacks followed by Apple Blossoms with caramel sauce and ice cream which we enjoyed on their patio. Thank you very much. Nice day, nice hike, nice folks all the way around.
WATCH: 6.88 miles (the watch gave us more this time) high point 2700, low 2216. Avg bpm 116, max 151 (8% Zone 3, 59% Zone 2, 31% Zone 1) burning 1150 calories. Starting temp 50, clear and 25% humidity (8:04AM to 11:33AM)
PS I got a kick out of one of the headline stories at Yahoo Finance: Bullard says high inflation warrants faster hiking  |
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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