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| Hiking | 2.16 Miles |
369 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.16 Miles | 2 Hrs 18 Mns | | 1.91 mph |
| 369 ft AEG | 1 Hour 10 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | A friend-of-a-friend from the midwest wanted to join me on a "locate a benchmark" hike, so I planned out a rather tame adventure for him. He had never hiked in Arizona before.
Spike BM is west of the valley and about a ten mile drive north of I-10, on dirt roads. It's on a mini mountain range and just enough of a hike to satisfy my hike-mate. He took well over 100 photos on this little hike.
Of course I didn't know that the actual benchmark was vandalized and gone.
I also didn't know we would have two rattlesnake encounters.
One encounter, going up the mountain, just had the "rattle" - It was to our left, so we moved to the right. We never saw the snake.
Much later, while hiking the ridge-line, we crossed atop a series of very large boulders and heard another rattle. This one was very loud, and came from directly below us, between the boulders. The noise seemed to echo in the boulders.
I could see the snake's tail below us, on the ground, about five feet down. I told my hike-mate to keep moving, as he had stopped.
They were the first two encounters for me in a long time.
Suffice it to say, my friend-of-a-friend may not hike with me anymore. |
| _____________________
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
