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| Hiking | 0.69 Miles |
390 AEG |
| | Hiking | 0.69 Miles | | | |
| 390 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Exploring the Siphon Fire 2024 burn a little deeper led me to Red Hills and beyond. The legendary Dutchman location boundary is just off Cavalry Trail #239 between Boulder Canyon and La Barge. I was attempting a Saguaro check on the eastern slopes and very few made it. In fact relatively little vegetation survived large portions of this area. Even the rock moss was fried. The easternmost edge of the fire burned up to nearby Malapais Mountain and then was stopped.
Red Hills are more like “Black Hills” at this point due to the extensive fire damage across this area. Cavalry between Needle Canyon and Squaw Canyon used to be a really lush place. Like many areas after Siphon Fire, it was roasted. A little farther south and Marsh Valley was obliterated. Needle Canyon is a black mess, First Water has patchy burn all the way through, Garden Valley and Black Mesa have also been destroyed. It’s depressing as it always is after fire in the mountains.
I’ve never been to the top of Red Hills before. The summit of Red Hills 2769 has great 360 views of everything this area of the mountains has to offer peaks Tortilla, Bluff Spring Mountain, Weavers, Ridgeline, all the way down to Golden Dome in the Goldfields, Battleship, Geronimo Head, Malapais, Black Mountain, others, and all the canyons between. I’ve seen enough burn now to want to avoid the area for a while.
The summit is actually not red at all, but the typical yellowish brown tuff common to the western mountains. The slopes are littered with the very red rock below the outcroppings that give these hills their name.
Wildlife was sketchy throughout the area. Saw a few isolated prints like deer. No other larger mammal sign. Apparently, most either did not survive the fire or have been avoiding the scorched area. Saw no snakes, just a few lizards, a few ground rodents, Sonoran hares, gophers or squirrels. Saw scattered raptors and isolated quail.
Saw very little water in the area, a few isolated stagnant pools and White Rock was bone dry. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation None
Too early |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
chuparosa and other small flowers |
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