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| Hiking | 3.92 Miles |
697 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.92 Miles | 2 Hrs 7 Mns | | 1.91 mph |
| 697 ft AEG | 4 Mns Break | 6 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Hiked Kachina trail with Victoria and Juan.
This was part 1 of our "see the the leaves change color hikes".
Our plan was to hike a sizable chunk of Kachina trail to see the aspens as this would be less popular than Aspen Nature loop.
We drove up the night before and stayed at the Flagstaff KOA. Victoria and I drove up together and Juan joined us later on (Allyssa could not make it this time).
Things almost immediately got exciting. We had just finished pitching our tent and Juan pulled up when a huge windstorm began. It was accompanied by rain that was snow at higher elevations. The wind was intense, we had out tent staked down properly and it held but the top was getting completely bowed over in the gusts. Juan who was late in arriving had an absolute devil of a time getting his set up. He was also not properly equipped with cold weather and waterproof gear so he was pretty wet and numb by the time we got his tent pitched. We all took shelter but non of us got much sleep with the wind howling and the tents smacking us periodically during the night we were far from well rested when we hit the trail the following morning.
At this elevation the rain was snow and we had the pleasant winter wonderland experience of a light dusting of snow along the sides of the trail. The wind, unfortunate, did not do the aspens and leaves any favors and along Kachina trail at least most of the Aspens were blown clear of leaves. It was also bitter cold still and we curtailed the hike somewhat to warm up. Juan went home after this and we took our chances with Aspen nature loop.
We met some backpackers along the way that did not look too happy. Apparently the winds up on the mountain were gusting up to 65 mph that couldn't have been much fun. Next time I will check the weather for wind storms as well. |
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