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| Hackberry Mountain - CNF, AZ | |
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| | Hackberry Mountain - CNF, AZ | | | |
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Hackberry Mountain - CNF, AZ
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| Hiking | 5.43 Miles |
1,857 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.43 Miles | 4 Hrs 21 Mns | | 1.68 mph |
| 1,857 ft AEG | 1 Hour 7 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | This hike was to the summit of Hackberry Mountain (elevation of 5,831 feet and prominence of 1,391 feet), which is within the Verde River Valley in the Coconino National Forest.
Hackberry Mountain got its name in the 1870's because of the many hackberry trees that were on it. Hackberry trees have pulpy wood which has no commercial use, but they do have edible berries. While I saw lots of juniper trees on the hike, I did not see any hackberry trees.
I started the hike at the Towel Creek TH parking area, which is on Fossil Creek Road about 8.5 miles south of Highway 260. Fossil Creek Road had been regraded earlier this year and was in good shape. I was last on the road in 2019 and it was very, very washboardy at that time.
From the parking area we crossed the road, climbed over a fence, and made our way to the Towel Creek Trail. After going a short distance we took an old road for about 1.5 miles. Topo maps show Hackberry Trail #177, but the trail does not exist in the location of on the topo maps. I am not sure if the road that I took was the elusive Hackberry Trail, or if it was simply just a ranch road. In any event, I was happy to hike on the road instead of being off-trail.
We followed the road around to the north of a bump marked on topo maps as "5212". We left the road shortly before getting to a dried up unnamed tank, and then went off-trail to the west of 5212. We then ascended Hackberry Mountain on the northwest slopes of the mountain. The off-trail portion was enjoyable and fairly easy. Vegetation was mostly some grass and juniper trees which were easy to navigate around. The mountain was in view the whole way which simplified the route finding.
The summit was very nice -- it was relatively flat and about half the size of a football field. Vegetation was mostly grass, although there were a few shrub live oaks that were no taller than knee high. Thus, we had some nice panoramic 360 degree views, and we hung around up there for 35-40 minutes. We then returned to the TH the way that we came up there.
The highpoint was a boulder about 3 feet high that has RM1 on top of it. I also located the benchmark and the other reference mark -- all were easy to find. I did not search for the azimuth mark however. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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