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| Hiking | 15.80 Miles |
3,122 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.80 Miles | 11 Hrs 14 Mns | | 2.04 mph |
| 3,122 ft AEG | 3 Hrs 30 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | We drove out the night before and car camped around Grandview Tower area. Next morning we got up early and drove to Desert View. Then followed the dirt down to the trailhead about 2 miles. Not the best road but doable taking it slow to avoid collateral damage.
About 645am start and nice morning. First, part of the hike follows the Cape Solitude trail which is old two track and about a mile in found an abandoned work van. Lee has a better pic [ photo ] . Two track follows the drainage for the first 2 miles or so before crossing over a few ridgelines. Basically, followed the two track Cape Solitude trail until we were in the vicinity of Espejo Butte. From there it was off trail and up hill over to the rim approach for Espejo Butte.
We started down picking our way through the top layer and trying to find the route. Lee found the class 4 route and continued down some good drops. Dave and I got passed the first really steep drop but on the second we both decided we were not really up for that much adventure today. We told Lee we would wait on the ledge for him to return and we did have a really nice shaded spot to wait and watch his progress over to Espejo. Eventually spotted him on the other side picking his way up slope to the butte. It took awhile about 2 hours round trip but he successfully summited….I believe number 59?
Took another break once Lee returned and we had a decision to make. Go back down to the valley and follow two tracks and other routes (longer) or follow the rim off trail (shorter) to Comanche Point. We decided to follow the rim off trail to Comanche Point. Despite being shorter probably did not save us any time but the views were fantastic along the way and glad we took the rim.
Reaching the final ascent for Comanche we had about 600 feet to climb. Unlike Espejo this was not a class 4 route and basically an easy walk up but it did have maybe the best rim views I’ve ever seen in the canyon. Another good break on Comanche taking it all in before the descent.
Made it back down to the original two track Cape Solitude trail and then a quick two miles back out to the vehicle. Fun trip even though was not able to get Espejo Butte…Comanche Point was a good consolation prize! |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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Route Editor
Route Scout
