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| Hiking | 12.50 Miles |
3,500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.50 Miles | 10 Hrs | | 1.25 mph |
| 3,500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Battleship Mountain is totally "in" right now, so I had no choice but to jump on the bandwagon. At about 9:30, Andrew and I set out from First Water for an all day trip that included Battleship Mountain and a relaxing stay at the LaBarge Box. We tore through Garden Valley and past Second Water Canyon, and took our time through Boulder Canyon. Spotting the path up to the south saddle of Battleship was quite easy, and once we got to the saddle we dropped some unnecessary weight (dinner and extra lens) and started our climb. What's funny to me now is how hard we thought about that first climb up to the lower platform. We completely scouted the southern tip of the mountain, convinced there was an easier way up, until we finally settled on the proper route. We had no idea that would be among the easiest of several obstacles we'd yet to conquer. The trek from the lowest platform all the way to the summit was super fun. I've never done a hike that requires so much thought and consideration. We were equally as amazed that every obstacle seems to have only one feasible non-technical option. Fortunately "ball bearing slope" wasn't as bad as Fritski's description and photo made it look. My mental images of it were quite daunting. We shared the summit with some curious bees and then made it back to the saddle in what seemed like half the time to get up. I was expecting a much more difficult descent then what we experienced.
After conquering the Battleship, we rehydrated and then made our way down the other side of the saddle to LaBarge Box, another Superstition spectacle that Andrew had never seen. There, we got comfortable and built a small fire in the sand on creek-left. Once we got some decent little coals, we heated up some water in a pot and warmed up some macaroni and cheese I had prepared the night before and vacuum-sealed with a Food Saver. Combined with some tuna it made a gourmet dinner. Right around sunset we packed up and commenced the hike back, and by the time we hit the saddle between Labarge and Boulder we broke out the headlamps.
Boulder Canyon trail sucked in the dark, even more than it does in the daytime. It felt like 100 creek crossings before we finally reached the Second Water Junction, at which point we switched to overdrive and flew up to Garden Valley. The walk through Garden Valley was one of the best parts of the entire day. The moon was ridiculously bright and we certainly did not need any artificial light on such a wide and smooth trail. We made our way back to the trailhead by about 8:15, feeling worn out and accomplished. |
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"Arizona is the land of contrast... You can go from Minnesota to California in a matter of minutes, then have Mexican food that night." -Jack Dykinga
http://www.joelhazelton.com |
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