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| Hiking | 11.64 Miles |
2,413 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.64 Miles | 4 Hrs 26 Mns | | 2.67 mph |
| 2,413 ft AEG | 4 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | This was the first of two really nice hikes for a great weekend. The ride up FR42 ad 42D is a little rough, but not like 4Peaks Road. The Xterra is finally in working order for this kind of drive, so that was a nice test. 
We got to the trailhead a little before 9:30am and had to figure out the pay system and where we could park. It can be a little confusing. Even the envelopes that you tear and use to seal the $8 fee and then hang on your mirror were confusing. Part of that problem was all the recent rain got them wet and they were somewhat compromised. 
The trail heads up the hill from the road to the Crest Trail, then you turn left to get to Chiricahua Peak. At first the trail looked almost invisible from the road with all the ferns coming in, but once you’re on it, it’s pretty easy to hike. The trail wraps around the campground and then heads southbound along the ridge to Chiricahua Peak.
Almost immediately you’re high up enough to get some amazing views. The overall scenery in this area was looking more like Washington state than Arizona. The combination of this time of year and the more active monsoon seems to have made things a little greener than usual as well. The ferns are around waist height at this point, and will likely get a little higher. All the vegetation was wet from the rain, but not so much that you would get soaked walking by it.
The weather was cloudy and cool for the entire hike. When we started, I had a cell signal at the trailhead and checked my weather app for lightning. The closest lightning was 464 miles away. Perfect, hiking with some peace of mind. A couple miles in it started to drizzle a little, so we put on the rain gear to prevent getting soaked if the rain picked up. It didn’t. By the time we got to the peak, it had stopped and wouldn’t come back. The final push up to the peak was a bit of a slog, mainly due to the elevation and thin air at 10,000 feet. Just enough to get your lungs going and legs burning.
I had lunch at the peak, using the benchmark as my table to eat off of. After 15 minutes, a bee was overly interested in my Gatorade Zeroes, then it was two bees. Time to finish up and head out. Checked the weather app again and it said the closest lightning was 106 miles away.
Got some bits of sun trying to shine through on the way back, enough to make the pictures nicer. Also saw some darker patches of clouds rolling in here and there. On the way down from the peak it started to warm up a bit, which was odd. Seems like you should normally be warmer when you’re hiking uphill. It cooled off soon enough and stayed comfortable the entire time. 
I was too lazy to try Flys Peak after the push up to Chiricahua Peak at this elevation, so I suggested we take the Bear Wallow Trail around the base of Flys Peak on the east side. We had one saddle to climb over, but that wasn’t too bad. The slightest uphill climb at this point was beginning to takes its toll, however.
After getting back on the Crest Trail, we took that to the turnoff to the lower road that drops elevation quickly and heads into the campground. When we went past the junction for the Long Park Trail I had contemplated taking that to the road, but there was another saddle to hike over and were done with that. The views down the road were nice, Silver Peak was very prominent and looks like another really nice hike to do sometime. 
Finished up in a little over 5 hours, which was surprising. Had plenty of time to drive down to Portal for check in time at the only hotel in this area and recharge for the next day’s hike. It’s amazing that this area is so green and cool in contrast to Phoenix right now and almost no one was there. There were a few people around the campground when we got back, but not many. Seems like this is a little known gem to the general hordes who make the trips to Flag, the Rim and the White Mountains. Probably not likely to stay that way for too much longer, but I enjoyed it today.  |
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