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| 11th Annual New Year's Day Peak Bag, AZ | | -
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| | 11th Annual New Year's Day Peak Bag, AZ | | | |
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11th Annual New Year's Day Peak Bag, AZ
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| Hiking | 3.20 Miles |
987 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.20 Miles | | | |
| 987 ft AEG | | | | |
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| Partners |
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[ show ]
| partners | | Another event in the books. We have managed to dodge weather several times over the years and only one year before this one, did anyone actually get wet and it wasn't much. Coronado Mesa only had 3 of us that year and the rain mostly held off although the rain gear was welcome on that one.
I stayed optimistic for this one. While the "chance of rain" was high, the rainfall total predictions for the day were very minimal which made me hope that this storm would be similar to our Christmas storm in that it would mostly just drizzle on and off. My hopes came true. While it drizzled a tiny bit at the start, and a bit during the hike, the precip mostly held off until the party was over at the very top and we were at the lower edge to not see the river. From the lower edge of the Butte north to infinity and beyond, it was a solid cloud and there was basically just hints of views the whole time. The Salt River and Four Peaks never showed at all. As we tried to stare into the white abyss where the river should have been, the cloud that filled the entire canyon began to drift onto the Butte itself and the tiny drizzle turned into more of a rain, so we made for the west edge to head down. Once we were out of the cloud, it was back to just sprinkles all the way to the vehicles. The timing was perfect. We were almost ready to drive out when it actually started to really rain. Lady Luck was on our side for this whole event. 99 times out of 100, you would do this hike and have just incredible views, and while it might have been nice for the 1st timers to see them this time, the clouds were just too cool to be disappointed. There were times on this hike where we were above the clouds and there was a version of an adage that kept coming up. "Wait 5 minutes and the views will change". And they did. One moment, the clouds obscured everything and another, a view would open up, if just for a few minutes. It was pretty magical.
It was great to see Larry, Wally and Ray again and I had invited two good friends, Diane and Todd, who were avid hikers and backpackers as well. Two of us had newer knees. I had both knees replaced in the last few years and Diane had 1 replaced this last spring. She initially had reservations about this hike, but decided to give it a go and she kicked some serious butt. At least mine anyways. It was a great company and an awesome party. Thankfully, Ray got over his twisted knee and ankle just in time and managed to break back into his truck in a timely manner to join us.  This is such a great way to ring in the New Year, weather or not. I am looking forward to continuing this tradition for as long as I can.
I opted to not carry the good camera for this one due to the chance of too much weather. So phone pics it is. Larry was a sport and still hauled his tripod up there for the group shot, while I just did a quick selfie of us all, even though I kinda suck at those.
Quick Video of the Cloud action along the trail. [ youtube video ] |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Spring Blooms continue into January. |
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| Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!" |
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