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| Hiking | 14.94 Miles |
1,791 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.94 Miles | 5 Hrs 9 Mns | | 2.90 mph |
| 1,791 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Headed up to Camp Verde for a few days and figured I would knock out this trail on the way up. I had hiked this section of the Black Canyon years ago, before they created the Copper Mountain Loop, which was the main objective of this hike. Got to the Big Bug TH just after 6am. Little dark initially, so I started off with a flashlight, but I had it off before hitting the dirt road at the top of the hill. The juncture for the Copper Mountain Loop occurred a lot earlier than I anticipated, about 1.7 miles from the TH. I knew it was a decent sized loop, but the Copper Mountain looked pretty far from this juncture. The trail started heading west along the slope of a hill overlooking a wash that seemed to come and go. Around 2.35 the trail drops down and seems to be veering north. This was a red herring. At 2.85 the trail starts to switchback up a decent sized hill to the south! This was the biggest climb of the hike. All the other grades were very gradual. At about 4 miles you reach the top of the hill and you are looking down on highway 69. The highway only stays in view for a few tenths, before the trail breaches a saddle and drops down to the northwest side. The trail then does some meandering working its way along the contours of the slopes. It wasn’t until around 5 miles when the trail finally seemed to get a more northward heading. By this time, the trail was low in the foothills and I wasn’t sure where I was in conjunction with Copper Mountain. At about 6.4 miles you pass through a gate and at 6.61 Copper Mountain comes into view. The stretch from 6 to 9 miles is the best part of the hike. The trail does some weaving as it goes along the south and east sides of Copper Mountain. It gains a little elevation, but never reaches the half way point on the mountain slopes. Still, the distant views were nice and the junipers and lichen covered, up tilted rocks provided great nearby views. Around the 8 mile mark, I realized that the loop was not going to go around the mountain. That was the high point and I could see the trail stretching below me to the east. At 10.28 the the loop reconnects to the Black Canyon Trail on a ranch road. If you are doing a loop, you’ll want to look on the other side of the ranch gate to pick up the BCT. After 3 miles, a couple of hills and gradually switchbacking trails I was back at the initial juncture with the Copper Mountain Loop. From here it was a simple matter of terracing my steps back to the car.
Nice hike. Sections of the Copper Mountain Loop are really nice. Not a huge fan of this section of the Black Canyon Trail. The slopes are rutted and rocky. The bikers have definitely made their stamp on this section. It has not weathered well. Besides for an owl and a rabbit early on, there was no wildlife. Had the trail to myself until I reached the first Copper Mountain Loop juncture on my return. Encountered a party of 7 bikers and then shortly after 2 more. Temps were chilly at first, but I was ready to take off my sweatshirt half way through the hike. |
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Route Editor
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