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| Hiking | 11.54 Miles |
4,242 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.54 Miles | 8 Hrs 24 Mns | | 1.70 mph |
| 4,242 ft AEG | 1 Hour 37 Mns Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | I hiked up to Sunset Mountain about a year ago and enjoyed enough that I wanted to do it again. I had to miss the hike BobP organized earlier this month, so I was happy this one worked out. We trimmed a little distance off the hike by parking farther in along FR 1530 than I did last time. The morning started off easy with the road walk with temps in the 30s at sunrise, and we took a short detour over to a ruin and some petroglyphs along the way.
Across Lime Creek, we continued north and pushed through a few brushy areas that I remembered from last time, but with some clipping and making Bruce go first through the worst of it, it was manageable. There's quite a bit of loose rock on steep inclines along the base of the ridge that we took up to Lime. The footing improves farther up, but the steepness is almost constant over the 3/4 mile up to the ridgeline with the peak.
Lime Peak: [ youtube video ]
We regrouped at the benchmark, and Linda and Bruce decided to wait while John-squared continued on to Sunset. We left some of our stuff behind to lighten the load, then we all visited the frustum before John and I continued north. We had to push through a few more brushy areas as we lost a little of the elevation we'd gained, then headed up another relentless, steep climb toward the summit. I pulled out the camera a few times and zoomed in on Lime to see if I could spot Linda and Bruce, but no luck (didn't realize until I pulled the pics up on the computer later that they were in the shots after all).
Approaching Sunset: [ youtube video ]
John and I checked out the ruins just south of the peak before taking a break at the top...quite possibly the first pair of Johns to summit Sunset together  . The register I placed last year hasn't seen much action--only one new entry from BobP/chumley/Dave1 earlier this month. Great views from the top, with lots of Mazatzal landmarks to the east, Four Peaks and the Superstitions visible to the SE, and Lime Creek Cabin down below to the NW. John pulled a few thorns out of the soles of his shoes, then we started the steep descent.
We finally spotted Bruce and Linda on Lime Peak once we were lower on Sunset, and they got a head start down. As John and I worked our way back, we found his hat, which he didn't realize he'd lost, hanging from an ocotillo. No wonder it looked exactly like his hat...and like it hadn't been out there very long...it took us longer than it should've to piece together that it was his hat, but we were tired . Back on Lime, we found my extra layers nicely folded (great service!) with the water we'd left behind, and we reloaded our packs and headed down to rejoin Bruce and Linda.
It was nice to have the full group back together for the hike out so we could all enjoy Bruce and Linda trading verbal jabs. It was a warm day--Bruce's portable weather station had the temperature at 84°, at the high end of the patented Eagle Comfort Range (TM). Fun but tough hike--I didn't make the mistake of leaving a bunch of extra layers on this time, but on a warm day, I still sweated a lot and was lucky to avoid cramping.
Before leaving, we drove over to Horseshoe Dam to check out the waterfall, which has apparently surged in popularity after a recent feature on ABC 15. Despite the tourists, the cool mist felt great after the hike, and the mullets were almost as impressive as the waterfall (full-speed version of Bruce's video: [ youtube video ] ). Great day with a fun group, and nice finally hiking with johnlp after crossing paths at SoMo a few times. |
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