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| Hiking | 5.85 Miles |
2,850 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.85 Miles | | | |
| 2,850 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | It's been a while since I have made the slog up the Siphon Draw to hit the Flatiron. My hiking buddy wanted to hit this one as a way to pay tribute to his recently departed wife. We arrived early and parked at the first parking sections off First Water Road and made our way over to the Siphon Draw along Jacob's Crosscut trail.
The weather was perfect, not cold & not hot. As soon as we made it to the Siphon Draw, we saw the stream of hikers coming from LDSP. The trail is the same as it has been since I first did this one years ago. The slick rock section was the usual steepness. Despite the huffing and puffing, we made it to the top and got our first look at the dreaded chute.
My mind always plays tricks on me by remembering the cool parts of hikes and forgetting the rough bits. I knew this would be an "embrace the suck" hike and it was. We came across a number of speedsters already going down and got passed up by a bunch of youngins' going up. We came across the "Flatiron Jim" and hiked with him for a while. 93 almost 94, he is amazing. I hope I am still alive at 94, let alone able to hike this one.
We made it to the wall and climbed up. A big crowd on the actual Flatiron as we walked along the edges. After some lunch and a bunch of photos, we started heading over to Peak 5024, but my buddy wasn't feeling it. We went over to the plane crash memorial and started down the chute. At my age, with my health issues, going down these steep ones is much worse than going up. My friend had a lot of problems going down the crazy rock hopping, but we made it to the slick rock ok. I think that is my least favorite park of this hike. The top of the Siphon Draw is a steep scree-laden accident waiting to happen. We made it down that section just fine and finally made it to the "trail" part of the trail.
A long, leisurely hike up and down. I am happy to help my friend deal with his grief on this one. A nice day hiking the Supes. |
| _____________________
"Jobs fill your pockets, adventures fill your soul."
instagram: @andydilling |
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