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| Hiking | 5.65 Miles |
1,557 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.65 Miles | 2 Hrs 50 Mns | | 1.99 mph |
| 1,557 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | On the 2nd day of my trip, I decided to hike this peak and if there was time I would do Goat Hill. I started at the end of Estrella Rd. at the same place I was at the previous day when I hiked San Juan Hill. I hiked up to San Juan lookout but this time I took the Alta trail South then East. At the start of the trail, there was a warning about beehives. After hiking up about 1/2 I ran into a couple hiking down that warned me about a beehive where the bees were a bit aggressive. The women said a bee got into her hair and she was able to shake it out but not so easily. They said the hive was in a small cave area. I continued up the trail looking for it and didn't see the area they were talking about.
Eventually, the trail got up to the ridgeline and I followed it until I could see Maricopa peak. There seemed to be 2 high points as I was approaching - one on the right and one on the left. The trail was in great shape the entire way up including the spur trail which I needed to take to get to the summit. At the Southern summit, I found a container with a notebook that was meant to be a geocache registry. I signed it and then went over to the Northern summit which I found another registry. I signed both because it was hard to tell which point was higher.
On the way down, I ended up finding the beehive which was on the South side of the trail, only about 8 feet off the trail. I saw many bees swarming around it so I kept moving quick. I saw at least 4 pieces of honeycomb inside a slot between the rocks. I had what I believed to be a guard bee chase after me. After an incident at McGee ranch several years ago, I know how this works. Guard bees fly into you and deposit a pheromone on your clothing. Then, they fly back to the hive and signal other bees to chase after you. You're only really safe once you're far enough away from the hive, which is sometimes 1/4 mile away. One bee landed on my shirt right next to my backpack strap. It was buzzing and making a lot of noise. I swatted it away and it returned again. This time it landed closer to my shoulder, so I smacked it with my left hand. I got a few quick photos and a video from about 30 feet away from the hive and then got the hell out of there. On the way down the trail, another bee was buzzing around my hat but I swatted it away. This could have been one of the other guard bees. This one was lucky not to be killed ;-). His other guard friend got an early retirement but unfortunately didn't get to enjoy his golden years, sad to say. What kind of life it is working tirelessly for some queen bee, anyway?
Beehive location: 33.327836, -112.134606
By the way, there was such a difference in moving time vs elapsed time because I stopped to talk to people on the way up and down a few times. I warned one other couple about the hive on the way down.
Stats:
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Total distance = 5.65 mi RT
AEG = 1557 feet
Strava moving time = 2 hrs 41 mins
Strava elapsed time = 4 hrs 41 mins |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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