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| no partners | | Unprepared, nutshell for this one. What should have been a casual flower hunt turned into an off trail thorny bouldery bushwack from H E L L. Normal flower areas were green but it looks to be a week or more away; probably due to the roller coaster weather. Instead I turned on an old road to a mining area I've spent a lot of time in the past. Been years since in this area. I always thought it had some great hiking potential due to the derelict roads all over the place.
In southern Arizona there are two mountain ranges that have off trail difficulty I would compare to the Sierra Ancha; the Mescals and the Dripping Springs.
I walked a road out and saw an adit in a scenic setting. Didn't seem to be a way to get to it easily. Walked back and saw an old mining settlement in the ravine bottom. Exit the road and down into the ravine. Several rock building remains, boiler, flooded framed shaft. The hike up the ravine pretty miserable with thorny brush and boulders. I left the bottom when brushy bench presented itself and was rewarded by several mining cairns and small snipets of trail. Scramble up to the adit, at times on hands and knees, then not much there. About 20 feet to a collapse, made it over that then fully collapsed in another 20 or so feet. Nasty traverse across some scree slopes back to the road.
Some short hikes to another tunnel I think I had been in but didn't have my good lights with me. A spot for another time to washed out track that will take me into some scenic cliffs. The plan right now is next weekend to try for flowers again, car camp and get this one done. With better footwear, lights and pack. |
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