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| Hiking | 3.25 Miles |
681 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.25 Miles | 1 Hour 34 Mns | | 2.14 mph |
| 681 ft AEG | 3 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Some more practice for me and Elden Summit for Kelly. We got started around 9:30. The parking lot was fairly full. We hiked counterclockwise as Kelly wanted to spend more time with me. I thot that was really nice as it would be faster for her if we went clockwise so she could get to the Elden junction quicker. We saw a few wildflowers including some Golden-Bearded Penstemon and Flagstaff Penstemon along with some Salsify seed heads, mostly spent banana yucca, a few prickly pear cactus, some blooming Cliff Rose and the usual array of very cool-shaped junipers.
Of course, there were the cool boulders scattered along the trail. It was a little complicated finding the way through Fatman's area as the trail has some false leads. We ran into a few hikers in this area; one that came from an area where there were logs across and a couple behind us that weren't sure, but then we saw a hiker come around a narrow corner and found our way. As you get higher you get a nice view to the east. Before we knew it, we were at the Elden Trail junction and we went our separate ways.
I never really like this section of the trail as it's rocky and the path is sometimes wishy washy as to direction. As per the previous part of the hike, there were quite a few hikers along the way. There were also lots of lizards but I wasn't able to get a picture until I was down at the bottom. Many of the lizards were dirty from walking around and getting in and out of their holes that we saw on the trail. I decided to go to the start of the Loop before heading back to Tonto 3. I saw some more flora and looked up to the top of Elden where Kelly was hiking. Along the way I heard an odd sound. I did record it. I got an upshot of one of those beautiful ponderosas before finally getting a headshot of a lizard and some other flora.
At the TH it was still busy with people coming and going. I researched a place for us to try for lunch but we ended up at DiMarcos so we could avoid some of the traffic. DiMarcos was as good as usual. Their small Caesar salad was huge; too many croutons though. I had golden BBQ wings freshly hot from the kitchen.
WATCH 9:32-11:06AM, 2.87 miles, 7114-7733 elevation. 125 avg bpm/153 max. 21% Zone 5 Max, 30% Zone 4 Anaerobic, 46% Zone 3 Aerobic burning 587 calories. Starting temp 77 sunny and 20% humidity |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled. |
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