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| Hiking | 5.14 Miles |
1,808 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.14 Miles | 7 Hrs 21 Mns | | 1.18 mph |
| 1,808 ft AEG | 3 Hrs Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Note: Our route includes going to Black South which only had 369 feet of prominence and may not interest some hikers. The stats below include our hike to Black Mountain - South.
This was day 2 of our 4 day camping hiking trip. The previous night we camped at a good starting point, maybe only 200 feet West of Bates Well road. There may have been some other better places to camp further away from the road, but we were satisfied with this area.
We started the open Country hike toward Black mountain. As a guideline, we used a route that was posted by Matthias S. Thanks to Matthias for posting that route. On the walk toward Black mountain, we saw a rocky ridgeline and though that the track would go either left or right of it. We were wrong. The track went right UP the rocky ridgeline. There were some steep areas but it was mostly class 1 & 2 along the ridgeline. There were a few places where we needed to use our hands along the ridgeline but nothing too difficult. Along the top of the ridgeline, there were some areas where there were drop offs to the left and right. These were the main exposure areas where you will need to be careful that you have stable footing. The rocky ridgeline was fun to climb but it was rather long. We reached the false summit at 1.45 miles and then from there we could see the top. From here we only had another 120 vertical feet of elevation, but it was a rocky ridgeline and was slow going. It would be another 0.45 miles to get to the summit from the false summit. At the summit, we found a registry in a jar, but we could not find a survey marker. Since Sept 2023, we were the 9th group to sign the registry.
From the summit, we found an odd brown colored rock down the ridgeline looking North that didn't seem to match any of the other rocks up there. We could look way down and see our camping spot. The Tohono reservation was about 7 miles to the East.
On the way down, we took the same ridgeline to the false summit, but then decided it might be faster to go to the saddle to the Southeast. It looked close but it ended up being a 0.5 mile hike across a very rocky ridgeline, some of which we could not even see until we got there. Luckily, we were able to make it down to the saddle. It was hot and we were a bit tired but we decided it would not be much extra hiking to climb another 369 feet to make it to Black Mountain - South.
At this saddle and for part of the way up Black Mountain - South, we found a lot of drug runner TRASH including multiple carpet shoes, clothing, blankets, cans, plastic bottles, etc. When you see carpet shoes, you KNOW these criminal drug running parasites are up to NO GOOD. I'm glad the leadership had enough balls to call them terrorists which is what they are. I'm glad our leadership is FINALLY cracking down on them. Furthermore, it's safer for hikers if they are not around.
We continued up to Black Mountain South. There were a few areas where we needed to use our hands and there were a few class moves necessary but nothing dangerous to me. We were surprised to see a registry at the summit. The registry went back to 1997, and we were only the 9th party to summit since then. We saw a few famous names on the registry including Bob Martin, Gordon MacLeod, Barbara Lilley, and Bob Packard. From this point we had some nice views of Black Mountain.
We headed back down to the saddle, looked left and it looked rather steep, so we continued for another 100 feet or so before heading down to our vehicles. We had to zig-zag a bit and maybe use our hands in a few spots but within a few minutes we were on flatter ground and could truly relax for the first time on the descent. We made it back to our vehicles a little before dark and then decided to head down to Twin peaks campground where we had a reservation and planned on doing some other hikes for the next 2 days.
Stats (for both Black and Black South peaks):
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Distance (round trip): 5.14 miles
AEG: 1,808 feet
Strava moving time: 3 hrs 17 mins
Strava elapsed time: 7 hrs 21 mins
Driving Directions:
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From Ajo, Arizona 85321
Head east on AZ-85 S/N Taladro St toward S Elota Ave
Continue to follow AZ-85 S for 2.4 mi
Turn right onto Darby Well Rd, continue for 1.3 mi
Continue onto Bates Well Rd for 0.6 mi
Continue onto Bates Well Rd for 2.1 mi
Turn left on unmarked road
See GPS route for more info. |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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