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| Hiking | 8.50 Miles |
3,401 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.50 Miles | 8 Hrs 26 Mns | | 1.09 mph |
| 3,401 ft AEG | 40 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | What an epic adventure! We bagged two peaks bagged [The Cleaver and then Bighorn], covered 8.5 miles in just under 8.5 hrs. [approx. 7 hrs. of which were full out bushwhacking], and had one he!! of a fun day. Huge kudos to BobP for contributing his route from almost a year ago, which was even more badpumpkin than the one I did today [Bob somehow managed to get Table Mtn as well. I'm guessing he either hauled some SERIOUS pumpkin to get down before sundown or had the joy of coming off The Cleaver in darkness].
My hiking partner and I started with the typical Cleaver route [up Pima Canyon, then up the drainage that is very accurately described in The Cleaver hike description]. This was one of the brushiest bushwhacks I've ever done but definitely NOT one of the thorniest! In fact, as horribly painful as the description, [and many of the trip reports], sound, my hiking partner and I found it relatively easy to what we were expecting. However, that said, this is no walk through the park either! We both consider ourselves to be experienced hikers with above average athleticism and fitness; so we could easily see how the description would be very fitting for the average trail hiker.
In terms of the variety of cacti, [and room for error in maneuvering around / on / through it], I have done much more difficult bushwhacks. Devil's Cashbox in the Santa Ritas, San Cayetano Peak, and Hieroglyphic Canyon Trail -  Balanced Rock - Superstition Peak - Hieroglyphic Canyon - Hieroglyphic Canyon Trail Loop in the Sups to name just a few are FAR, FAR worse in that regard.
In addition to the cacti / thorn factor, both steepness and the 'gripiness' of the footing [or lack thereof] also come into play. Compared to many bushwhacks I've done, [including the three I mentioned above], no part of today's adventure struck me as "OMG, this is steep!"
Finally, I thought the gripiness of the footing was generally excellent. Granted, we could have lucked out; the ground was still slightly moist from either rain or snow melt, [which we both felt enhanced the grip compared to completely dry footing]. At no point do I recall experiencing any issues with loose footing – or big loose boulders for that matter. The trickiest aspect in regard to footing was the good old Catalina rock. I think the Catalinas are one of the few areas in Arizona [or anywhere for that matter] with certain types of rock that even my uber gripy Five Tens just go sliding right off. The main "Cleaver Drainage" didn't have too much of that, but the drainage we followed off Bighorn had tons of it.
We reached the Cleaver Saddle at around 2 hours give or take and made summit in 2 hrs. 38 min. Boulder hopping is my forte, so I really enjoyed the two short 'climbing' sections just after leaving the saddle. The Cleaver summit it not very big but I managed to find a comfy rock to sit on and flip through the two registers. The oldest signature I noticed was from 1985. There were a few others from the late 80's and even some from the 90's.
After the Cleaver, we followed BobP's route, [which circles The Cleaver clockwise and reaches another saddle shortly thereafter, at which point we turned to ascend Bighorn]. While the views from The Cleaver were awesome, the ones from Bighorn blew it away! We didn't see a register near the highpoint [but didn't have the energy by that point to look as thoroughly as we normally would have]. We continued across to the other end of the summit, right to the point where someone literally put what looks to be deer antlers sticking up from the ground, supported by some rocks. At this point, [instead of backtracking to align with BobP's route], we noticed a nice spot from which to descend the mountain and headed toward it; [which put us in a drainage that would eventually overlap with BobP's track and shortly thereafter rejoin with the "Cleaver Drainage."
The beginning of our descent from Bighorn went very well: less brush, better footing, and lots of big boulders/rock slabs; however, [right around the spot where we re-joined BobP's track], it got a bit brushy and the going was slower. Also right around where we joined BobP's track, we saw this rock cave that looked like a perfect spot for mountain lions. Luckily we didn't see any mountain lions; cuz this really would've been a perfect spot for a den! We finally rejoined the "Cleaver Drainage", and it was a surprisingly fast go from that point on. By the time we connected back with the Pima Canyon Trail, I was surprised that I still had some energy left. My hiking partner literally bent down on hands and knees and bowed to the trail. While nothing was overly difficult, I think he had more than his fare share of bushwhacking for one day! |
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| God save the Prom Queen, cuz [reality check!] AEG's King...! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Hopefully one day I'll run into her on the trail!
. This was where I pulled the plug for this round. The route definitely looks doable, but in cooler weather and with a partner.
