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| Hiking | 11.25 Miles |
1,818 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.25 Miles | 6 Hrs 37 Mns | | 1.79 mph |
| 1,818 ft AEG | 20 Mns Break | 20 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | We originally planned on driving up Elephant Hill and continue the drive out to the Confluence Overlook TH but a bad oil leak in the Cherokee  at the last minute meant we had to take Tracey's Honda Fit, which has about as low clearance as you can get.
So instead of a long, rough drive and a 1 mile hike we had to settle for the 10+ mile Confluence Overlook Trail hike, which begins at the Big Spring Canyon Overlook TH. But as usual my curiosity lead us off on extra side-trips and we ended up with 11.25 miles.
Moments after leaving the parking lot we began the descent, winding our way 135' to the canyon floor, walking across the canyon barely a few hundred feet, then it's a 200' ascent up the other side where we will reach 5,000' in elevation. Luckily the trail follows a passageway between boulders, which spared us a longer climb. Through the passage we were greeted with awesome views but with little time to waste we're descending again. Not too much of a descent because within less than 10 minutes we're climbing a ladder to clear a pour-off and will climb a bit more until we look out over one of a number of flat open areas we will encounter along the way.
And that's pretty much how the hike went... drop, climb, drop, climb, drop, flat, climb, drop, flat, etc. But through all that it provided a wide variety of views and terrain, providing us with plenty of practice for the hikes we will do the rest of the week.
Hmmm, what did I leave out? Oh yeah, the Confluence!
Eventually we reached the Confluence Overlook TH at the end of the 4x4 road and from there it was barely half a mile and we are treated to the awesome sight of the Green River flowing into the Colorado River.
Wow! 
What a great place for lunch, so that's what we did. After a PB&J lunch Tracey sacked out on a smooth rock while I chatted with a guy who had driven out with his Tacoma 4x4.
As we were about to leave the overlook a couple came jogging up. They appeared to be husband & wife but she was wearing the pants today, berating him for not keeping up. About 2 miles into our return trip the joggers passed us. The woman was so proud they got to the confluence in just over 2 hours! Although we kept it to ourselves at the time Tracey and I got a pretty good laugh out of that... wow, averaging 2.5 miles an hour while jogging with a minimal 2-bottle fanny pack.
Now that must have been tough! 
If we hadn't stopped for over a hundred photos and took the side-trips along the way we would have made it with our packs in the same time. But even funnier, when the guy, who of course was not keeping up, passed us he said he couldn't believe how long it took them to catch up to us, you guys were really moving!
Funny, we didn't think we were doing much more than strolling, and certainly not working up a sweat. And we even got to enjoy the scenery, and that was awesome!
Anyway, the rest of the return trip passed quickly since we already knew the best routes and already had enough photos... well, not quite. Rather than boring everyone with a huge photoset, I limited it to 40 photos on HAZ.
Now for those into watching our vacation photos and videos... 
Full set of 144 hike photos: http://changephoenix.com/jpserver/web/public/file.php?id=606
Video shot along the Confluence Trail: http://changephoenix.com/jpserver/web/public/file.php?id=608
Video of a climber at Indian Creek: http://changephoenix.com/jpserver/web/public/file.php?id=609 |
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