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| Hiking | 11.77 Miles |
3,709 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.77 Miles | 7 Hrs 7 Mns | | 1.79 mph |
| 3,709 ft AEG | 32 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | This hike got delayed a year due to the early monsoon activity last June. My goal was to hike the Pole Bridge Trail since it's in the 100 Classic Hikes in AZ book. I saw the system of trails in the Chiricahua WA and planned a loop to take Turtle Mountain, Crest, Mormon Ridge and Mormon Canyon Trails. Of these trails, the Crest Trail has the best views by far, which makes me wonder why the Pole Bridge Trail made the cut for that book  .
We started hiking around 9:30 due to the long drive. It was kind of toasty at the start, but cooled off quickly enough as we gained elevation and caught some breezes. However, we were sweating from the steep climb and needed to hydrate. The first 3 miles took 2 hours and was 2200' AEG. The first 5 miles took 3 hours and was 3200' AEG. I was beginning to feel spent and knew that part of the problem was it was getting past lunch time and my blood sugar was low. I just felt weak, and it was more than just the strenuous hike up. By the time we stopped just below Monte Vista Peak for lunch, I was almost spent. Earlier, at the junction for Morse Canyon Trail, I was really considering bailing and taking the 8 mile loop option. I hadn't killed my bladder but I felt like any sip might be the last and we still had more of a climb to Monte Vista. In retrospect I'm very glad we stuck with it.
After lunch we mistakenly took the Monte Vista Trail, thinking it was the Crest Trail (not that we had paid attention to any of the name, just looking at the tracks I downloaded). i only discovered this because the views were so nice I decided to take a panorama pic with my phone and noticed that we were off track. Luckily Wally was not out of earshot even though he was out of eye shot.
the Crest Trail as already noted had the best views. This area up top looks more like Washington state than AZ, and it's not overrun by people since it seems hardly anyone is aware of it. We had spent so much energy getting up there and then this trail is at 9100'. For a lot of this, I was a little light headed and kind of felt like I might have been close to altitude sickness for the first time. I did notice once we got lower I felt better. I think the strenuous climb up contributed to this. Doing this trail made me very happy we stuck with it and didn't bail sooner.
The hike down Mormon Canyon was pretty easy, but at the same time it wasn't. Downhill gives you the chance to catch your breath (especially since we got back to a more oxygen rich zone), but the steep terrain was rough on the quads. I'm still feeling it on Sunday night. The shade from the pines gave me the chance let my hoodie down and enjoy the breeezes more. Some rocky sections made it just hard enough to be annoying for a little, but it helped knowing we were in the home stretch.
Once we got to the road it was easy breezy. I thought this might be more like 13 miles but we were under 12, which I had no complaints about. It was warmer again back at the bottom but the downhill grades and the extra oxygen more than made up for that. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
