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| Peak 4489 - Harquahala Mountains, AZ | |
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| | Peak 4489 - Harquahala Mountains, AZ | | | |
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Peak 4489 - Harquahala Mountains, AZ
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| Hiking | 7.60 Miles |
2,760 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.60 Miles | | | |
| 2,760 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This was a hike to Peak 4489 (elevation of 4,489 feet and prominence of 1,689 feet), which is in the Harquahala Mountains. The trailhead for this peak is just off of Eagle Eye Road, so after the hike I hiked up to nearby Eagle Eye Peak.
Peak 4489
This was a fun little hike that was a bit tougher than I envisioned. I didn't have to drive too far off of pavement, and I think that a crossover SUV could have made it to where I parked. The road dropped into a wash just beyond where I parked, and the road was a bit rougher past that point. I could have driven it, but I was fine parking where I was.
I walked on the road for a half-mile, where the road ended at some archaeological ruins. There was a stone wall along with a couple of stone dwellings. I was not sure of the nature of the ruins, but on the way back from the hike a guy in an ATV was there and I stopped to talk to him for a few minutes. I asked him if he knew anything about the ruins, and he said that he had read that there was some sheep being raised there back in the day. He pointed me to another ruin site not far away that had another stone dwelling, a stone corral, and a water catchment tank; I went over and checked that out as well.
There was no trail on the hike, and once off the road I went cross country and climbed up a steep slope to a ridgeline, and then followed the ridgeline to the peak. The last part of the climb up to the ridgeline was very steep, but the footing was fairly solid, so it wasn't too bad. Once on the ridgeline I still had a fair amount of elevation to gain, but it was not as steep as the climb up to the ridgeline.
There was some vegetation to deal with, but it wasn't too bad. I'd describe it as a mix of open country and bushwhacking.
I saw a nice white-tailed deer buck on the way up, and we stared at each other for a few minutes. I also saw 3 cows not too far below the summit.
This was a nice hike, and the ruins made for a nice bonus.
Eagle Eye Peak
Eagle Eye Peak and Eagle Eye Arch were visible for most of the hike, so I figured that I would go hike up to them once I was finished hiking Peak 4489. I parked at the Eagle Eye Cemetery, and hiked from there.
I went on a road until I got below the arch, and made a steep hike up on a use trail. Along the way, I went right through another arch. Eagle Eye Arch was fairly large, and I was glad that I went up there.
It took me a while to get up to Eagle Eye Peak. I first started to go up there from near the arch, but after making a couple of class 3 climbs I got to a place that had more exposure than I was looking for, especially since I was there by myself. I wound up traversing around, and found and easy class 3 route up from south of the peak. The views were nice up there so I am glad that I made the effort to get up there.
I climbed back down the way that I came up, and made my way back to the trailhead.
Synopsis
This was a nice day in the Harquahalas. I was glad to hike to another P1K peak, and it was a bonus to see some ruins and a couple of nice arches.
Distance and elevation gain for the 2 hikes are below. Stats above are the sum of the 2.
Peak 4489: 5.59 miles with 2,103 feet of AEG
Eagle Eye Peak: 2.01 miles with 657 feet of AEG |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
I hardly saw any flowers on Peak 4489, and there were just a few on Eagle Eye. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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