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| Hiking | 12.10 Miles |
2,551 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.10 Miles | 7 Hrs 37 Mns | | 1.74 mph |
| 2,551 ft AEG | 39 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | With the cool weather finally arriving, I wanted to do a more strenuous hike that what I've been able to do with the heat. Cave Creek made for even cooler weather being higher elevation. There was intermittent rain on the drive up, but once I got to the Seven Springs TH, it was all gone.
I was actually a bit chilly when I started, which was interesting after the heat last so long. 247 is marked better across the creek crossing, so I didn't lose the trail like I normally do. A little over a mile in I saw 2 hunters who were hiking at different paces and caching in water for a future hunt. The one guy said they planned to also get to the peak and that we would cross paths later. I never saw them again.
At the high point of the Quien Sabe Trail I started the off trail trek to the peak, following a track I downloaded from a previous trip. This took a roundabout way around some heavy brush. On the way back I spotted a quicker route that crosses a clearing the steep drainage right as you get off the trail.
The way up I followed the track but kept drifting to the left, getting away from the steep dropoff. At first it was slow going as the terrain was pretty steep and there were several sections of heavy brush and cacti. Once the slope got less steep, the brush also cleared a bit and it was easier to walk between the rocks.
Got to the peak to find that there are two peaks. Still not sure which was which, so I made my way over to the second one just to be sure and ate my lunch there. By the time I finished lunch, it was cool enough to have me start shivering a little bit, which is a big difference from the last several hikes I've been doing lately.
I opted to go back the way I came rather than continue the bushwhack along the ridgeline over to 247. On the way back down, I again kept drifting too far to the left, this time going further down the steep dropoff and having to make my way back up. At one point I found a prickly pear cactus with huge fruit on it. I took out my lunch container, picked a few of them and took them home. Turns out they need to ripen a bit more. I tried to burn off all the needles but wasn't totally successful.
the way back down once I was on the trail again was quicker, as expected. Saw a few more hikers on their way up. Once I was on Trail 4 there were a few more groups of hikers doing some shorter afternoon hikes. Didn't even finish my Camelbak bladder. It was very nice to finally do a hike in much more comfortable weather. The clouds didn't make for great pictures but I can live with that. |
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