DESTINATION Military Trail - P.A. Seitts Preserves 1 Photoset
2022-09-21 | |
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| | Slate - Military - Flat Rock - Quartz Loop, AZ | | | |
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Slate - Military - Flat Rock - Quartz Loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 6.77 Miles |
825 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.77 Miles | 3 Hrs 13 Mns | | 2.16 mph |
| 825 ft AEG | 5 Mns Break | | | |
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| Partners |
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none
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| no partners | | Slate trailhead seemed questionable in the dazed and confused early hours of the day. Simply park before N Conestoga Trail. Which is a neighborhood street. Apparently a recent development, the houses show on satellite but are missing on Streetview.
Slate Trail
Beautiful saguaros and fire hydrants line the trail up to the cul-de-sac where the earthen trail takes off like a downhill rollercoaster. It isn't horrible but I wondered if Greg & Cathy have ever unintentionally practiced luge sledding.
By a half mile into the hike, the tread is more leisurely, and as expected no fire hydrants or steep grades. 1.1-mi in along the power or phone lines the trail looks more like a mountain biking freeway at 6 ft wide with tracks galore. I did pass a mountain biker, the only human encounter on the hike.
By 1.4 mi, the tread is slightly sandy which is good because it was pouring. Almost aborted on fear of freezing to death in the desert. Should that ever happen I pray someone will drag my carcass to a respectable busy trail like Piestewa.
Military Trail & Flat Rock Trail
The rain settled, angels were singing and it smelled every bit as refreshing as creosote.
Quartz Trail
It was a blur. I was hungry and tired from hiking Piestewa en route. The long-gone 16.9 ounces of water I brought probably wasn't screaming role model but I did my best to whine loud enough about the humidity to irritate an Eagle down in the valley.
Slate Trail
I photographed and took a bunch of notes on the initial leg of the lasso loop thinking I'd out-n-back the balance of slate to get up a worthy guide page. In retrospect, that slowed me down. On the bright side I was so fascinated with Military & Flat Rock it didn't matter, nor plans to get my first ascent of Black Mtn on the way home... lol |
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Cave Creek |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| |  Flabbergasted, flowing a slow trickle! | | _____________________
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