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 | Four Peaks Circumference, AZ | |
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| | Four Peaks Circumference, AZ | | | |
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Four Peaks Circumference, AZ
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| Hiking | 30.28 Miles |
7,660 AEG |
| | Hiking | 30.28 Miles | 23 Hrs 40 Mns | | 1.40 mph |
| 7,660 ft AEG | 2 Hrs Break | | | |
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[ show ]
| partners | | A battle of wills. Soldiering hackberry became an exercise in social thermodynamics. The solution—my own pair of pants— was strapped to John’s back, taunting me as he surged ahead, yo-yoing just out of hollering range. We finished the dayhike 1.5 hours after I picked him up.
5:29 am It's a 4.25mi/1270ft road walk from Mud Springs TH to Lone Pine TH. Albeit too warm for long pants, it was a perfect autumn morning.
Four Peaks Trail #130
6:53 am The trail seemed the same, in good condition, as in previous years. It's not wide like most of the AZT, but it gets the aye okay nod considering location and terrain. Passed two hunters maybe a mile before Black Bear Saddle. Pondered if they had a power haul drone, if they got anything, as five feet up or down might be your last.
Alder Creek Trail #82
There is no trail; it would need an army of @jacobemerick's with @BiFrost to bring it back.
Seldom explored Alder Creek 6-mile East Segment
Black Bear Saddle ▶ Brown's Cave
9:30 am A reconnaissance mission 2025-10-24 revealed few if any had been in the least used 6-mile segment down Alder Creek since Karl and I's 2014 foray.
Possibly 30 feet of trail and the stone work of a long-gone terrace. Pools and clear flowing water off and on for four miles that disappeared for short stretches. No sign of [ photo ] .
Prepping for this hike, I hiked Mount Lemmon —approx 26.5mi/7700 AEG— up and down five times. Forgot I needed six miles, creek rock hopping stabilizer muscles. 5:40 pm, 367 feet from Brown's Cave, 12-14 miles to go. 10s helped bring this dream home and would only get near this and the true lore of the terminus of the Mazzies... I'm an idiot.
Rarely Adventured 3.5-mile South Segment
Brown's Cave ▶ Nondescript Saddle
5:40 pm I told 10s it was a fair trail through a fairyland of open desert... BYO imagination. Unfortunately, we missed the grandeur of this segment; it was pitch dark until the 8:26 pm moonrise
Curious Four Wheeler 1.75-mile West Segment
Nondescript Saddle to Cane Spring TH
8:20 pm This is the most used and least exciting segment.
Cane Spring Trail #77
9:07 pm Once again, I am shocked by how well this trail travels the lower 1.5 miles. The upper mile prepares the victim for #83.
Soldier Camp Trail #83
11:26 pm If this were a well-maintained trail, people would hate it for dipping in and out of two huge ravines. From the Cane Spring Trail #77 junction, it's a simple cairn hunt for 0.55 miles. It goes from bad to atrocious. John was carrying my pack as an olive branch gesture for ripping my arm off last year. Somewhere in the atrocious stretch I bit my lip and hollered ahead "hey, could you stop so I can get my pants out of my pack".
The final 1,100 ft ascent from Boulder Creek to Big Saddle —2:15 to 3:40 am— is not a bushwhack but I was struggling.
Speaking of shame, it's a shame two other mountain trails close to the Valley have been abandoned. Cienega Spring Trail #253 looks three times worse. The unnumbered trail to the north looks marginally better.
5:05 am Finished
Synopsis
Never say never. Who's next. |
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Alder Creek - Four Peaks |
Pools to trickle |
Pools to trickle |
| |  Pools nearby. It was running good off and on and clear for the 6 miles we came down. Probably water for about 2 1/2 miles. |
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Mud Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Approaching, John yelled SWAMP as he stepped into the namesake. Water in the... didn't take a photo, the spring box in topohiker's photos may have been repaired, but I only caught it out of the corner of my eye, concentrating on the end of the hike coming quickly. |
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Shake Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Good size, clear pool of algae, it is dripping | | _____________________
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