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| Hiking | 19.03 Miles |
3,674 AEG |
| | Hiking | 19.03 Miles | 10 Hrs 32 Mns | | 1.89 mph |
| 3,674 ft AEG | 27 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I would say this would be a one and done for this trail, but it was third time every trying to hike it all. this time I got it all done. We returned on the Gold Ridge Trail. I would say the same thing for that trail, but it was also the third time I've done that trail, and I think I'm done with both of them. The views are great, but it's a lot of work. this loop was especially a long day.
The first 5 miles of Deer Creek are nice. At the 4 mile mark, the trail starts to climb in and out of the creek, giving nice views as the canyon walls narrow. At mile 5 the vegetation gets more overgrown than I remember 10 years earlier when I last tried this. It stays that way up until the 8 mile mark. There's about a mile of decent trail, then a brutal steep climb up to the Peeley TH.
After mile 6, there are fewer creek crossings, but even up above the creek the bushes are in the trail and there are several tree fall crossings. Above the creek the trail was very narrow in spots and very dicey as the footing was loose from rain the day before. Lots of washouts that were a bit dangerous to step over as it was a pretty steep fall if the ground let go. And with thefrom rain the night before, we were pretty soaked by mile 6 with all the overgrowth brushing on us.
At the 1 mile mark, my camera battery died. I started taking pictures with my camera, but with all the water and how hard the hike up Deer Creek was, I wasn't in the mood for much picture taking. And all the water on the lens didn't help either. And my phone doesn't like when I try to run the camera and Route Scout at the same time, so both apps tended to crash. So not many pictures.
Took a quick lunch break at the Peeley TH, talked to a group of AZT day hikers who just finished. they did the more sane thing and only did a 10 mile hike and were done for the day. We still had to hike another 700' vertical on FR201 and down Gold Ridge. I was overheated from the brutal climb up out of Deer Creek, but 10 min later I was nearly shivering from not moving in the cold weather. Between the bushwhack and the climb at the end, the overall feeling of hiking all of Deer Creek is summed up in one word: brutal.
Gold Ridge is nice for the first 2.5 miles downhill, then the steep parts hit. I remember this being a little difficult to hike on the way back when we hiked up this trail. This time after hiking up Deer Creek and being on our 14th mile for the day, it was again very brutal on the way down. The joints were sore, but no injuries. Mostly muscle pain in the quads, which dogged me the rest of the day until I was able to treat that with a few glasses of non-aspirin pain reliever once I got home.  The nice scenery along Gold Ridge helped offset the pain. Kind of.
Surprised to get home in less than an hour after I finished. Glad to get this one all done at last. |
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Route Editor
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