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| Petrified Forest National Park - Day 2, AZ | |
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| | Petrified Forest National Park - Day 2, AZ | | | |
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Petrified Forest National Park - Day 2, AZ
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| Hiking | 22.89 Miles |
1,579 AEG |
| | Hiking | 22.89 Miles | 9 Hrs 8 Mns | | 2.69 mph |
| 1,579 ft AEG | 37 Mns Break | 8 LBS Pack | | |
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| Partners |
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Pilot Rock
21.75 miles - 1600' AEG
This was the main goal of the weekend up here.
After the twins had their required allotment of coffee and breakfast, we launched from camp at 6:15am.
We had one false attempt to gain one of the ridges, we decided to take a slightly longer walk around. This is our preferred route.
We stashed a cache around the 4 mile mark and made our way towards what is called "The Wall". It's a feature at about the 5.5 mile mark that you need to pick a good route on. The route we took going was a little sketchy and we decided, not one we'd like to return on. There was one area with a knife edge on some slippery stuff. The route coming back was a piece of cake.
Heading towards Pilot Rock, we made our way towards the obvious gash mid-mountain on the east side. Getting to the area with the large chock stones, on the way up, we headed up to the left at the boulders. John was able to find us a doable route with just a little bush problem.
At the top, there is a 4' tall cairn, decorated in bird droppings and pack rat decorations. Previous HAZ'ers reported a summit register, we found none. There was some broken glass and remnants of the height of light.
[ youtube video ]
The topo map I had, showed "Ruins" on the minor peak to the north, so we went over to check it out. Nothing more than a 5' round circle of stones, so we made the plunge back down a different route. It worked out even easier than our way up.
Now on autopilot, we made our way back to "The Wall". Our route down was easy peasy.
We more or less retraced our steps back to camp. The walk back got a little long in the 83 degree heat. There were clouds all around, but rarely overhead. The breezes were sporadic also.
Back at camp, it was still warm and the gnats were bothering us, so after 15 or so minutes, we headed up the rim to gather some more water for the night and morning and do a couple more short hikes.
Newspaper Rock
.1 mile - 10' AEG
Agate Bridge
.3 miles - 20' AEG
A Petrified Log, supported by a concrete base
Crystal Forest Loop
.9 miles - 50' AEG
Paved path for the hike with a very nice collection of Petrified Wood.
A worthy stop.
We splashed in the sink at Kachina Point and then we made the plunge back down to camp. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Dave Barry  |
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