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| Hiking | 6.02 Miles |
841 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.02 Miles | 2 Hrs 12 Mns | | 2.74 mph |
| 841 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Early morning hike in the Goldfields. Plan was to do the Green Thumb “Trail” and then check out the beginning of the Twin Arch Trail.
Started from the Hackamore TH around 6am. Still dark out so I used my Garmin screen light as needed. Not a huge need. First mile of the hike is road hiking and even in the dark the road is easy to see. Passed the trails namesake within the first mile. Amazing, how much light is generated by the distant cities. Not only was it enough to illuminate FR 3512 it also provided a faint glow to the escarpments of the Superstitions. I noted as I went by the “pit”, there was still a faint glow from a previous nights fire.  Unattended of course. That is a barren area located in a large pit, but with the winds we experienced a few days ago that is beyond reckless. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") No winds today, so I guess we all got lucky.
After about a mile the road transitioned to trail 309. The trail is a solid single track that goes in a northwest direction and connects almost directly into the backend of the Twin Arch Loop. Not much evidence of a trail for the Twin Arch on the backend. Hiked up FR 1356 to see what the front side of the trail looked like. More of the same. I was surprised the trail was so faint at both ends. I have the trail downloaded on my Garmin and that looks like it will be a necessity when I do this hike. Satisfied that I had an idea for the future Twin Arch hike, I headed back towards the TH.
I enjoyed the hike back as much as the hike in. Having achieved my main two objectives, I had the freedom to explore the area follow use trails on the way back. I started out following what I thought was a use trails that turned into a game trail that turned into a bushwhack. Pretty sparse vegetation so there wasn’t too much “whacking”. I ended up connecting to trail 308 and then 309 to get back to the TH. I had just been on the 309 a month ago and it was obvious that they had recently done some trail work, creating water spillways. One can hope.
The Green Thumb is a pretty easy objective. Pretty neat landmark, though the trail/(road) to it is unimpressive. Ideal, to be connected with another trail or an excuse to explore the area. I kind of did a little of both. Beautiful weather this morning. Clouds provided a wonderful backdrop. Had the trails to myself. No wildlife. |
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