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| Hiking | 16.00 Miles |
1,600 AEG |
| | Hiking | 16.00 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 2.67 mph |
| 1,600 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I am writing the trail description for this passage for a update of the AZT guidebook and needed to re-hike it to take notes. Ideally, this would have been done in the spring, but instead I hiked it on a day that reached 106. I slept near the trail in the back of my new Jeep (pretty comfy!) so that I didn't have to drive to the trail in the morning. My friend Lee Allen was nice enough to meet me at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am to shuttle me to the beginning of this passage. This is not one of my favorite parts of the AZT. Though the views of the Rincons are great, it is unnecessarily swoopy (that's a technical term). I'm sure it's a if you are on a mountain bike, but as a hiker, I kept thinking "Why does the trail swoop all the way over there to gain 50 yards of travel north?"
At least the trail was generally flat, which made for quick hiking. It was breezy, but I was still able to use my umbrella. I use a voice recorder along with my GPS to take notes for the description. By 10 am, I had hiked 11.5 miles and reached my car. I took a break to cool down and eat snacks, then headed back out. I had to hike the last couple miles out and back, which is the reason that I ended up doing 16 miles today. The crossing at Rincon Creek could definitely use some trimming. (the trail continues straight across the overgrown wash) Surprisingly, there was still a small flow in the creek. The 2+ miles backtracking to my car were scorching hot, and even though I brought enough water to wet down my shirt and my hair, toward the last mile even that failed to cool me down. The trail swoops made me severely grumpy! Finally, I reached the air-conditioned haven of my car and dumped the ice water from my cooler over my head. I wish I had the heat tolerance I used to have when I worked as an archaeologist- we used to work until 2-3pm in the summertime.
As is usually the case, the passage turned out to be almost 1/2 mile longer than the data book said (13.7 instead of 13.3). |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
