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| Mingus Oaks and Butterfly with Gaddes, AZ | |
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| | Mingus Oaks and Butterfly with Gaddes, AZ | | | |
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Mingus Oaks and Butterfly with Gaddes, AZ
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| Hiking | 18.31 Miles |
3,366 AEG |
| | Hiking | 18.31 Miles | 8 Hrs 37 Mns | | 2.58 mph |
| 3,366 ft AEG | 1 Hour 32 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I suggested three reasonable hikes and Bruce picked the coolest/easiest option. FR104 is the turn off 89A and is now paved for a mile or two. Driving up, the camps or retreats were loaded. We parked in the big lot just before the smaller #106 lot.
North Mingus Trail #105
We hiked the road up to the hang glider launch, the south end of #105. The drop is steep with great views if you look past your feet. I much prefer to ascend but know how much Bruce hates the ascent. He ran down and played with Spotted Towhees at the junction while I inched down without dying.
Bug Hollow Trail #548
From #105 we utilize the nice shaded use-trail to Bug Hollow. It's the steepest 0.5-mile stretch of the day but almost goes unnoticed with good tread through the forest. A slight descent put us in good spirits on Bug Hollow for 0.8 miles.
Upper Mescal Trail #550
0.75 miles up to an 0.4 mile use-trail that delivers us to the Mingus Picnic/Rest Area we occasionally use as a starting point. The use-trail is notable for yellow bark locust thickets. Which is a semi-friendly stage between the nightmare bush stage and the tall 6-10 inch diameter tree version. Leveling out to the rest area we listened to a few house wrens.
Butterfly Trail #536 - Mingus
Whereas Bug Hollow is typically a cool bugless pocket, this nicer-named drainage was warmer and gnatty due to a stagnant trace of a creek after the full dam.
Middle Trail #537
Middle children are often excluded, ignored, or even outright neglected because of their birth order. That makes perfect sense if you hike this trail, but it gets the job done. Bruce once found a Fitbit along this trail. He attempted to contact the owner without success so it's one of the many stories replayed throughout the hike.
Lunch
We enjoyed lunch on a cool concrete picnic table.
Coleman Trail #108
I don't hike as much as grandpa push-ups & speedos, so this segment was cursing my world. To make matters worse, somebody moved my damn tree and killed it.
Gaddes Canyon Two Trail #9037
Despite 87° I love this trail. The new twist to us was a long stretch of poison ivy. Nearly a dozen times I heard... you brushed against it. I increasingly tried to avoid it but the concern is mute compared to avoiding the biting noseeums that deliver 10x pain.
Gaddes Canyon #110
Bruce carries postage-stamp-sized alcohol wipes so we attempted to remove the antigen oil urushiol. Either that worked or my legs were slathered in enough cryptobiotic dirt, cuz nothing has surfaced or itched a day later now.
Synopsis
Mingus is fabulous in the Autumn and a nice option otherwise. JBM,  joebutterflymode, emitted a steady release of therapeutic joy throughout the hike. Zero hikers encountered. We would have passed more hikers along Inner Basin but not sure I could have dealt with BBM crying up a storm about a beautiful six-mile road walk. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Not much, it's almost summer. |
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Butterfly Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | maybe a half quart a minute, anything more is an exaggeration. |
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Mingus Lake |
76-100% full |
76-100% full |
| | | As full as I recall and well-used, parking was full when we left. | | _____________________
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