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| Hiking | 4.70 Miles |
2,113 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.70 Miles | 5 Hrs 3 Mns | | 1.20 mph |
| 2,113 ft AEG | 1 Hour 8 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.
- Mae West
This hike was to the summit of the Mae West Peaks (elevation of 6,726 feet and prominence of 2,026 feet), the highpoint of the Little Dragoon Mountains in SE Arizona.
The Mae West Peaks were named for their shape, which some say resemble the figure of the sultry actress Mae West. There are 2 peaks, with one being 86 feet higher than the other. We went to the higher of the two, which is the one further to the west.
This isn't a long hike, but it is very steep and brushy, and there is some rock scrambling to attain the summit.
The drive to where I parked is about 11 miles on dirt, passing 4 gates along the way. It took a little less than hour to drive. You'll mostly see 4WD vehicles out there, but I think that an AWD SUV could porbably make the drive. The drive is through a patchwork of state trust land and private land. There is signage saying that access is given to drive through the private land, but that access could be revoked at any time. People out there are friendly though.
From where I parked, we hiked about 0.6 miles to a windmill at the end of the road. From there we followed cattle paths for a ways, and then went cross country up to a ridgeline. There was lots of grass ranging from knee high to chest high, often with loose rocks underneath, and plenty of sharp pointy plants. Sections of the hike were very, very steep -- in one stretch we gained about 500 feet of elevation in 1/4 mile. The steepness was exacerbated by all of the high grass and the vegetation.
We made our way up to a ridgeline, and then made our way to the summit block, which was surrounded some intimidating looking cliff bands. Fortunately we were able to go to the left for a short distance and find a weakness in the cliff bands, which enabled us to make a fairly easy class 3 climb up to the summit.
There are great views at the summit, so we hung out there for a while, before going back the same way that we came up.
At the summit, we located the benchmark and one of the reference marks, both of which are stamped "Lime". When the surveyors were there in 1935 the peak was known as Lime Peak, which explains the stamping.
Synopsis
This is tough hike, and is one that most people won't want to do; but you'll get a good feeling of accomplishment if you choose to do the hike. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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