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| Hiking | 6.55 Miles |
1,790 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.55 Miles | 3 Hrs 5 Mns | | 2.46 mph |
| 1,790 ft AEG | 25 Mns Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | | I have been aiming for this one for about a month now, but autumn storms and some family plans have kept getting in the way. Not today! I got to the trailhead about 3:15 to start my hiking day. Nice weather conditions, but a bit toasty to start my hike. I did the Alamo Springs spur loop in CCW direction with the off-trail scramble out to Ridge Crest Peak. I saw a desert tortoise about a half mile up the Alamo Springs trail, always a good sighting! I took a little different track up to the peak, I was just using the standard path of least resistance. There were a few spicy moments, but for the most part this was a reasonable scramble. The worst part was trying to avoid the sharp ends of the Yuccas/ Cholla/ Prickly Pear/ Catclaw, there were a few points where I had to circle quite a bit to keep myself in one piece. i did manage to have one good Prickly Pear hit on my arm, spines and glochids that I spent some time removing, and then again when I got home...Views are great from the top, I could see as far north as the Superstition Ridgeline, of course the Catalinas were up front and center. After a short break up top exploring around, I started down teh south side of the peak and was surprise to see some trail! There is even a sign up there, apparently there is a loop from the east side that I did not know about. I followed this trail down a bit, and then cut back over to Alamo. I headed north again, and then made my way back by the Alamo Spur and Wild Burro trails. There was some nice golden color out here thanks to the Turpentine (Ericameria laricifolia), Dogweed (Thymophylla pentachaeta, gotta love that.), and Senecio. There was just a few wisps of clouds out on the western horizon, made for a fantastic sunset out in the desert. Made it back to the van only having seen one other person all hike, and that was about 5 minutes from the start. Another great day in the Tortolitas. I beat last year's mileage total with this hike, and I still have two months left in the year...woo hoo! |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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