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| Hiking | 8.35 Miles |
1,243 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.35 Miles | 3 Hrs 47 Mns | | 2.21 mph |
| 1,243 ft AEG | | 18 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Just two days after our attempted (and disastrous) rerun of a hike from well-in-the-past, why not take on another one, this time a hike from just short of 9 years ago? And so we did.
Rather than starting out on the current AZT #17 route, we left the Picketpost TH on the administrative road, which ultimately leads to Mesa Tank, passing Picket Mill Tank along the way. The first 4.5 miles of the admin road is the same as the 'original' AZT Passage #17. At that point the road turns 90° left on the way toward Mesa Tank, while the old AZT #17 continues South up Alamo Canyon another few miles before reaching Forest Road #4.
We turned left and followed the admin route until it made a 90° right turn uphill toward Mesa Tank. Since the tank was not our destination, we followed cowpaths due East down a ridge until reaching the current AZT #17, where we turned left to begin our return leg to the TH.
Almost immediately we met two mountain bikers, one of whom appeared to be an experienced rider while the other most likely a newbie as his movements were very tentative. Based on how little gear they had, we figured they were just doing an out-and-back ride.
Barely a few minutes later we met an older couple who were bike-packing to Kelvin. The rest of our hike we would only meet one hiker, who was just wrapping up a short break. A few minutes after we passed him he caught and passed us heading to the Picketpost TH.
Shortly after he passed us, we decided to skip the excessive winding of the current AZT back to the TH dropped into the wash and follow very distinct cowpaths until reconnecting with the old AZT/admin road, which we took back to the TH. Since we had taken a bit of a shortcut, I overheard the hiker (who left us in the dust earlier) on the phone to secure a ride into Superior.
Although the constant climb on the first part of the hike was a butt-kicker (particularly the steep uphills), the rest of the hike seemed like a breeze, so much so we didn't even begin to consume our 'lunch' until back to the car... and I didn't finish mine until after we got home.
Although every bit of the are we covered today was supposedly well inside the perimeter of the Telegraph Fire of 2021, we didn't encounter anything that appeared to have been burned. Which, after our walk through the black devastation in Wood Canyon a few days ago, was very welcome. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
