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| Hiking | 10.04 Miles |
2,698 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.04 Miles | 6 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.54 mph |
| 2,698 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Did this solo hike starting around 10 am. To get close to Peak 4868, I took the Romero Canyon trail which was very well maintained the entire way out and back. Much better than in previous years so the work done by maintenance crew was noticed and was appreciated much. I arrived at the lower Romero pools area after hiking 3 miles and the upper pools area after hiking about 3.5 miles. The upper pools had more waterfalls and pools so I thought it was nicer overall. The trail continued on the North side of the pools and I followed that all the way into the canyon and lost the trail. The topo map showed a dashed line higher up so I climbed up out of the canyon and bushwhacked in order to find a trail. I did not find a trail there but was already committed to the climb and when I checked my GPS it said I was 0.39 miles from the peak so I decided to wing it and continue going up.
On the off-trail portion, the first 1/3 of the way to the peak was very steep and rocky - a steep and difficult bushwhack in some sections. At times there were huge boulders that I needed to hike around or over. I tried to stay out of the mini-canyons and on the mini-ridges. Higher up, there was less brush and more dirt which made the climbing a bit easier. When I got higher up I checked my GPS and I was only 0.25 miles from the summit. But, it looked closer at that point. I climbed up to the top of a steep and huge rock formation only to find out that it was not the high point. So, I needed to back track for about 10 minutes to get down and go around it. Further away, I saw the peak. I was approaching from the West. Getting near the very top, there were some massive boulders, some appeared to be 10 feet in diameter which made the climb more difficult. I needed to make sure not to fall down any holes. I saw one hole which didn't have a bottom to it, since it was angled out toward the side and all I saw through it was open air. At this point I was probably 20 vertical feet from the summit. In order to get there I would need to climb up a steep rocky section in which there was massive exposure. A fall here would have been fatal for sure. I had the impression this wasn't the preferred route. Anyway, with some good hand holds and foot holds I felt confident enough to get to the top.
At the summit I saw 2 shallow pools of water. Each was a few feet in diameter and probably a few inches deep. There was also a bush, I believe Manzanita, on the West side of the peak, with a glass jar under it. I signed the registry and noticed a 3 person group in August 2023, a 14 person group on Dec 2nd, and a 2 person group on Dec 12th. Tim, did you find the registry?
On the way down, I found a better route that didn't have the exposure that my route up had. I climbed down a channel on the East side of the peak. Once down I continued in that direction and saw cliffs all around. I ended up ducking under some huge boulders which formed sort of a tunnel. On the other side, I saw a few good routes getting to lower ground, so I did have to hike to the West before going East again. On the way down, I planned on hiking South toward the Romero trail as long as it wasn't too steep. If it got too steep, which it did at times, I hiked East. Eventually I made it back to the trail and I believe it took me about 1 hour to get there.
See my route for more details.
It was about 3 pm at this time and I knew I had roughly 4.5 miles of good trail to go. I thought I could probably hike that in about 2 hours, not counting breaks which was pretty close. I did stop at both Romero pools to get some photos, videos, and also took a snack break and a few water breaks on the way down. The Romero pools and waterfalls were great, but I won't be rushing to do this bushwhack and rock climb again anytime soon...
Stats:
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Distance (round trip) = 10.04 miles
AEG = 2,698 feet
Strava moving time = 4 hrs 49 mins
Strava elapsed time = 7 hrs 30 mins |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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