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| Hiking | 11.79 Miles |
1,788 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.79 Miles | 5 Hrs 33 Mns | | 2.40 mph |
| 1,788 ft AEG | 38 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Made another trip down to Oracle to hike the last section of the AZT between where we left off last week and where me, Wally and Joe hiked the Oracle Ridge Trail 5 years ago. We started at the American Flag TH and did 2 out and backs, one up to the ridge, and the other to Oracle State Park to the Manzanita Trail.
we did the hard part first hiking up to Oracle Ridge. It was cool and very breezy very early on as we ascended, which was a bit surprising since the weekend forecasted temps in Phx were near 100. Just past the first ridge on the way up in the valley a stream was still running, which was surprising. Noticed the Hi Jinks Ranch on the way up which looks like a lodging area specifically made for thru hikers. Kind of interesting to see this, I didn't know these sort of lodgings existed along the AZT.
Got to our first turn around point and headed back down. We had lunch at the TH in the Stillermobile, which provided us shade and a breeze with the windows open. almost as nice as last week at the picnic table under the tree.
Headed on the 2nd out and back down towards Oracle State Park. Scenery wasn't as nice as the climbs on the way up on the first park of the hike but the flatter park was a bit of a reprieve. Wally was ahead as usual and just short of the 2nd turn around point a hiker was coming the other way who knew my name and that I'm a Steeler fan. Wally had sold me out to a Browns fan. we talked for a good 10 minutes or more while Wally waited at the turnaround spot, a mere quarter mile away able to hear us. It turns out he's an AZT volunteer and spends a lot of time hiking the AZT and lives in Tucson. He gave me his contact info and offered to help with rides for shuttle hikes in that area to finish off sections near there so we don't have to keep doing out and backs. Cool to meet another AZT enthusiast with NFL interests and make some networking connections like that. I had my HikeArizona.com shirt on and I told him about this website and how many updates on trail conditions are documented here. He seemed interested.
Made our way back to the TH and called it a day. Never got super hot which has been very nice so far. |
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