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| Hiking | 10.61 Miles |
1,287 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.61 Miles | 5 Hrs 6 Mns | | 2.11 mph |
| 1,287 ft AEG | 4 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | After dropping off Radmila at the airport at 5am, I headed down I-10 to check out the Casa Grande Mountain Park and the trails there. I started from the Arica Road TH and did a loop taking the Spine Trail to the north, the Ridge Trail south down to the West Butte Trail, and headed back north on the East Butte Trail. About a half mile in on the Spine Trail I heard a whooshing noise behind me. I turned around to see a very low flying hot air balloon that had just cleared the hill behind me and snuck up on me. There was another balloon that showed up later. They flew across I-10 and seemed to land in some fields on the other side.
This area is very rocky and not much vegetation. Reminded me of some areas of South Mountain and Piestewa Peak. The trails had a lot of loose rocks, which tended to slow me down. As the heat kicked in, that slowed me down a bit more. By the end I skipped some of longer switchbacks on the East Butte Trail which was easy to do because every hill there has a semi-road that been cut into to by all the ATVs and mountain bikes in the area.
the Ridge Trail and West Butte Trail gave the best views being up higher. Most of what you could see was just the surrounding farm land, with far away views of Picacho, Mt Lemmon, and Superstition Mt and 4Peaks to the north.
Saw some hikers early on, but the numbers dwindled as the temperature got warmer. Not a whole lot to see in this area but a nice change to hike new trails for me. |
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