DESTINATION Cerro Colorado Mountains - High Point 1 Photoset
2023-03-09 | |
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| Hiking | 8.50 Miles |
2,367 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.50 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 1.42 mph |
| 2,367 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Arrived with Tim and started hiking around 10:20 am. Weather was very nice and comfortable. I drove my 4x4 high clearance Chevy Colorado. We reached a spot in the road that looked a little too much for my vehicle perhaps due to erosion and ended up parking about 1/2 mile lower on the road than planned. This would add roughly 1 extra mile to the hike, but it was not a problem, because it was all road hiking. Starting point was 0.5 Southeast of Surprise Well. We hiked to the well, just to see what was there and encountered only some solar panels. We suspected there was some kind of underground pump and the well was not exposed. After hiking a total of 1.7 miles, we saw Horseshoe Tank to our left. This was basically a dam and there was a good amount of water here. We continued until after hiking a total of 2.2 miles and arrived at what looked like the end of the 4x4 road. There were 2 larger trees here and we decided to stop for an early lunch. In this area, we saw evidence of border crossers, debris, old clothing, bottles, cans, etc.
The topo map showed that an old 4x4 road continued up but we really didn't see much of a road so we figured it was overgrown and not there anymore. We continued following animal trails North and then saw the ridge above us. We hiked up a steep section and arrived at the main ridge. From here there was a false summit and we kept going up to get to the top. Once at the top we kept following the ridgeline and saw that we needed to work our way down to a lower saddle on the other side. Once we made it to the saddle, we saw a fenceline and a pretty nice trail that crossed it. After doing this difficult and slow bushwhack for the previous 1.1 miles, we decided to try taking the trail which appeared to be going in the right direction, toward the peak. We took this trail for less than 1/2 mile and then realized it was heading too far East to the wrong saddle, so at this point, we decided to bushwhack UP to the saddle just East of the Colorado BM. This was by far the hardest part of the hike and at this point we thought we probably would have been better off either staying on the main ridge or taking the trail to the incorrect saddle and then following the ridge West to get to the peak. We eventually made it to the top of the ridge and then did the short 0.15 mile hike to the summit.
At the summit we saw a fenced area with some solar panels inside. We looked around for a registry at the high point and didn't see one, so I left a glass jar that I had with me, and we signed our names, and I also wrote the name and elevation of the peak. It was placed in a rock pile a few feet from the actual survey marker.
On the way down, we followed a similar route. Going from the saddle down to the trail below was the most difficult part going down because there was no trail, we needed to bushwhack, and the terrain was steep, rocky, and also covered with grass. We continued at a steady pace until we reached the trail down below. Once on the trail, we made better time. We saw some evidence of border crossers on this trail as there was a lot of debris/old clothing, etc. When we reached the fence line, after traveling a total of roughly 5 miles from the start of the hike, we had 2 options. One would be to climb up to the high point and follow the ridge back down the same way. The second option was to continue along this trail and see where it went. We decided to follow the trail and see where it went. It appeared to go around the ridge and we thought that might save us some time. It turned out this was a good strategy, as the trail took us in the right general direction of where we wanted to go. After hiking just under 1 mile further, we felt like we needed to be about 1/2 mile further East to join up with the 4x4 road that we started on. So, from this point, we decided to bushwhack down into the canyon. Once at the bottom, we crossed a canyon, and after traveling a total of 6.14 miles, we found yet another trail heading East through another branch of the canyon. This trail was a little hard to follow in some places, so we walked in the canyon and saw some standing water and nice shady areas. Again, there was evidence of border crossers here. After hiking a total of 6.43 miles, the trail turned Northeast and took us out of the canyon. After hiking a total of 6.45 miles, we saw 2 old wooden posts on either side of the trail and the trail went right between these posts. We thought maybe this land was owned by ranchers in the past and this post was left there from many years ago. After going through the "gateway", we reached the same area where we had lunch several hours earlier. We stopped for a short break here, and then continued down the 4x4 road to where we parked. All in all, I believe we saved a little time coming down the unmarked trail, even thought it was probably 1/2 mile longer than the bushwhack along the ridge.
Make sure to use a GPS. We saw a few branches of unmarked trails going in many different directions. There were no signs and we could see how it would be easy to get lost out there without some kind of GPS device or maps. |
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Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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