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| Hiking | 4.49 Miles |
1,872 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.49 Miles | 5 Hrs 11 Mns | | 1.04 mph |
| 1,872 ft AEG | 51 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This was a hike to the unnamed highpoint (elevation of 4,118 feet and prominence of 1,595 feet) of the Sauceda Mountains. The Sauceda Mountains are a volcanic range in Pima County. The highpoint is about 15 miles east of the town of Ajo.
The Saucedas are a nice range with some interesting geology. If I hadn't known better on the drive in I'd almost think that I was in the Kofas or the Supes.
I drove in on the Pipeline Road for about 16 miles off of Highway 85. The road had some sections along with some rough sections. A high clearance 4WD is needed for the last 2-3 miles of the drive, and would be recommended for the earlier section of the drive. My intention was to park at the trailhead for the hike to [ Coffeepot Mountain - Ajo ] , but I had just gone through a rocky section of the road and decided to park about 1/2 mile before getting to the TH. The extra bit of road walking would prove to be the only easy hiking for the day.
Once I got to my intended parking spot, I started going uphill almost immediately. I made my way to a ridgeline that it NW of the summit and would hike on or near the ridgeline all the way to the highpoint. It was a rocky and bouldery ridgeline with jumbles of rock in various places. The footing was solid most of the way though, so at least I did not have to deal with going up and down a lot of scree. There was a good bit of class 2 climbing, but nothing worse than that. In many places I could see a well worn path likely made by indocumentados, and I followed some sections of the path.
I slowly but surely made my way up and down. There were signs of illegal border crossers at the summit: trash, blankets, and 4 car batteries. A rectangular rock wall had been constructed right at the summit to provide some concealment for smugglers who were scouting the area.
I located both reference marks but did not see the benchmark -- it was likely covered up by the aforementioned rock wall. RM1 was stamped "Sauceedo" and had dates of 1920 and 1935; RM2 was stamped "Sauceda" and had dates of 1920 and 1936.
The hike wasn't all THAT hard but it wasn't easy either. It was rocky but not particularly slippery. There was some vegetation to deal with in places, but except for going through a dense teddy bear cholla thicket the vegetation was not too onerous. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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