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| Hiking | 10.33 Miles |
2,721 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.33 Miles | 4 Hrs 19 Mns | | 2.39 mph |
| 2,721 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I had planned to hike in the morning, but she-who reminded me of some honey dos that had to be done first. Oh well, I guess no hiking. I finished my tasks, grabbed my boots and backpack and headed off to the trailhead. It's been years since I lasted hiked Alta and now with the 202 I can get to the trailhead in just 15 minutes. I parked on the dirt part of Estrella at about 2:10 which gave me 4 hours to hike to the other end of Alta and back before sunset. That should be enough time, right? Only a couple other cars there, probably because it's Superbowl Sunday.
Some of the ocotillo were in bloom with little bright red flowers at the end of their bare thorny stems. I saw only one other hiker on the trail, and that was right at the high point. He said that I was the third person he saw that day and usually he doesn't see anyone else. We then continued on our separate ways. I was keeping an eye on the clock and trying to make good speed. The climb up to the high point is steep and I couldn't go very fast, but after that it was mostly downhill.
I remembered to look for the crested saguaro on the way down, but there were just some saguaro sticks where it used to stand. Not really surprising because it looked in bad shape the last time I hiked Alta. Oh well. It was cool to see back in the day.
The Eastern trailhead for Alta has been relocated to the "Y" which is a lot better than having to hike a ways on Bajada and then cross the road to get to it. Definitely an improvement. The trail in general was in good shape everywhere, but there are still a couple of tricky switchbacks where you have to cross sections of steep pointy rocks. Nothing too difficult, and at least they're short.
My legs felt it on the climb up on the way back. I made ok time, but not fast enough to get me back by sundown. I still had a good mile to go at sunset, but at least I was past all the steep stuff. There was sufficient twilight that I never needed to break out the headlamp, but it was pretty dark by the time I got in my car. A nice peaceful hike with lots of solitude. |
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