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| Paddy Benchmark (7401) Galiuros, AZ | |
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| | Paddy Benchmark (7401) Galiuros, AZ | | | |
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Paddy Benchmark (7401) Galiuros, AZ
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| no partners | | (See triplog for Sunset peak for the stats)
Francisco invited us to visit his family's Buckskin ranch over the weekend, so we decided to plan this hike. Thank you to the Simpson family for allowing the 4 of us to stay at the historic Buckskin ranch. It was a great experience, the ranch is truly an amazing place, and Francisco cooked some amazing food for us during our stay. We noticed that the road getting out there was maintained better this time than our trip last August.
Note: We did Paddy BM in conjunction with Sunset peak. For all stats, see my trip report for Sunset peak.
Right beyond where we parked, the road got a bit worse and was too much for my 4x4 Chevy Colorado. We started hiking up the road and within about 5 minutes, the road ended and the trail continued from this point. We didn't see any trail signs anywhere, but this trail could have been referred to as the High Creek trail since it follows High Creek. The trail crossed the creek a few times. On Mar 1st, we saw water in maybe 3 of the water crossings but it was dry in the other 2 to 3 creek crossings.
Along the trail, I only remember one spot where there was a bit of confusion on where to go, but aside from that, the trail was easy to follow and in good condition overall, in my opinion. In a few areas of the trail there was some minor overgrowth, but it really didn't slow us down at all. The trail was steep in a few areas and we took it all the way to the high saddle Southwest of Paddy BM. It was about 2.6 miles to the saddle and there was a metal locked box on a post here. Not sure what it was used for or why it was here.
From the saddle, we saw a clearing and started going up toward Paddy BM. Near the bottom, we needed to climb over some rocks but there was nothing over class 2. In a few places, we needed to use our hands for stability. After getting higher up, there were some trees we needed to hike around - juniper, oak, etc. We found a few clearings but not one distinct trail going to the top, but the hike was fairly easy.
Near the summit, we found a small glass jar. About 50 feet away we found a rock pile and another jar that was rusted shut. Neither of the jars were shaded or secured. We were able to open the old jars and many of the registry entries were unreadable. We took photos of what we could read, signed where there was room, then created a rock barrier to keep as much sun off as possible.
We walked to the Southeast end of the peak where there was a clearing and we took some photos looking Southeast toward Buckskin Ranch. After doing a group photo and a summit video, we hiked back down to the saddle, taking a slightly different route. We believed that our group going up was slightly better. After getting to the saddle, we continued down to the trail junction heading to Sunset peak. Brian C took off at this point because of time constraints, and the rest of us continued our hike to Sunset peak from here. See my trip report for Sunset peak for the rest.
Driving Directions:
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From Willcox, AZ
Take I-10 East toward Willcox.
Take exit 340 for AZ-186 E/Rex Allen Dr/Fort Grant Rd
0.3 mi
Turn left onto AZ-186 W/Fort Grant Rd/W Rex Allen Dr
Continue to follow Fort Grant Rd for 14.9 mi
Continue onto S Brookerson Rd for 3.0 mi
Turn left onto W Ash Creek Rd for 17.2 mi
W Ash Creek Rd turns slightly right and becomes Sunset Loop Rd
Continue North on Sunset Loop Rd for 2 mi
See my driving route which I will upload. |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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