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| Hiking | 12.03 Miles |
4,343 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.03 Miles | 7 Hrs 55 Mns | | 1.76 mph |
| 4,343 ft AEG | 1 Hour 5 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | It's been a couple of years since I summited the true highpoint of Gila County ;), but the last time I was here Linda and I descended to the north via an unnamed drainage I'll call Suicide West Fork. Along the way, Suicide Ridge loomed off to the east and I put it in the memory bank for a route that looked worth visiting sometime.
I proposed this loop to 9L and he ignorantly decided that it sounded fun. On the drive in we scoped the various options that gain the ridge and chose the one that looked best. This required about 1.5 miles of warmup on the Y-bar, which has received recent trail maintenance. Oh, it's no less annoying than it's always been, only now there are signs of recent disturbances in the dirt.
At about the 4900 foot contour, shortly after entering the wilderness and crossing the first drainage, we headed straight up the adjacent slope. It's less than a mile to reach the ridge, but gains 1800 feet, so it's plenty steep. Abundant desert flora dots the hillside, but rarely provides unavoidable resistance. As the grade moderates near the ridge, some more healthy thickets of manzanita appear, but is rarely more than thigh-high and getting through is nothing any fan of off-trail Arizona desert hiking would consider much of a challenge.
The next stretch following Suicide Ridge to the Mazzy summit was a highlight of the day. Despite poor air quality today, the views are expansive and the final 1000 feet of ascent stretches over a pleasant 2.5 miles.
We took a break at the summit before heading down via the same Suicide West Fork drainage I had done last time. This is always a great route and remnant winter snowpack and plentiful running water made the canyon a treat. That last half mile does make reaching the pristine tread of the Barnhardt Trail a welcome transition.
We stopped at the Suicide Central Fork falls which were flowing lightly before making quick work of the last few miles back to the car, along the way passing the only other hikers we saw all day.
There are no easy ways to gain the Mazzy Peak summit, but I would definitely include this as one of the of options. |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
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