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| Hiking | 8.01 Miles |
1,849 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.01 Miles | 5 Hrs 21 Mns | | 1.62 mph |
| 1,849 ft AEG | 25 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Day 3
Once again my epic hiking plans nearly got crashed… and the irony just kills me: after having used only 4 of my 2016 vacation days to date this year, I FINALLY have some time to recoup... yet the weather has been less reliable than during monsoon season. About 1.5 weeks ago, I was on the 9,400'+ summit of Miller Peak in shorts and short sleeves and never felt cold, [not even after sitting there for several minutes]... yet today, I woke up to 30 deg temps and a whiter Christmas than my folks had in up in New England. Elgin got several inches of snow and Sonoita which is only 200-300' higher had close to 1'. Huachucas... Ritas... Whetstones... even the Mustangs topping out at around 6,500' were all getting clobbered [and continued to get clobbered throughout the day].
It did not put me in a good mood to say the least, [and I once again fell short of my mileage goals]... but the pooey weather and my subsequent change of plans definitely proved to be a real blessing in the end: aside from falling a tad short in terms of both mileage and time [relative to my Chirichua adventures from March of this year], today's adventure to Patagonia's Saddle Mountain was none other than pumpkining epic! Let's just say, if I were judging just 4-5 hours worth of any adventure I've done to date, then this one would definitely rank among my top 10-20. From totally bad pumpkin pumpkin ridgelines to exceptionally beautiful drainages, along with artifacts, mines, a mini-slot canyon ending with a neat waterfall, and even a stone 'house', this adventure truly had it all... and if all of that weren't enough it gets even better:
1. Exceptionally beautiful views surround you before even setting foot out of your vehicle; and the views just keep getting better as you get higher. The Patagonia's are one of my favorite areas to hike and I've done a few summits now in this area, all of watch have amazing views; however the views from the summit of Saddle Mountain, [as well as those along the way and back] just blow everything else out of the water!
2. Very rewarding summit… in the sense of being able to get up there [and then back down] in one piece! This is definitely one that will get your heart racing and even skipping beats when viewing it from a distance. It is total cliff on several sides; and the few side that are doable without ropes & gear are filled with boulders and craggy areas and very steep.
Whether I'm simply getting used the residual equilibrium impairments or further improvements are continuing remains to be told, but I'm sure glad that the residual impairments were only very mildly noticeable on this one!
I definitely want to go back and do the 2-3 other awesome looking prominent points on the ridgeline to the W / NW of Saddle Mountain. I had started off on the ridgeline and bagged UN 5213, along with the next prominent point... but then had to make an emergency exit off the ridgeline thanks to some hunters that were firing a little too close for comfort!
Nonetheless, it was an an epic, unforgettable adventure! |
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| God save the Prom Queen, cuz [reality check!] AEG's King...! |
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