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| Hiking | 1.65 Miles |
779 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.65 Miles | 2 Hrs 11 Mns | | 1.22 mph |
| 779 ft AEG | 50 Mns Break | 5 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | The day didn't look very promising with heavy overcast skies and drizzle, but again a week had gone by without a hike so I headed out with hopes by time I hit the trail it would be clearing.
My plan was to summit both Roblas Butte and Peak 3086, 3/4 mile to the northeast. After studying topo and satellite maps I decided the best approach would be from the east, just off FR252. It was still a steady drizzle when I left Hewitt Road and dropped into the wash at the start of FR252. Shortly before my designated trailhead I got a glimpse of bright light through an opening in the clouds and I thought I just might have a dry hike.
No such luck. In fact, if I hadn't taken a number of photos before getting into the climb I wouldn't have any of Roblas Butte because very low hanging clouds moved in, bring back memories of my first Picketpost East attempt... at times the visibility was ten feet or less. Thankfully the extra time I spent drawing out a detailed GPS track or I would have wandered for hours and may not have located the summit.
Due to such low visibility it took more than a little time to locate the summit log. But even that was the easy part... by time I found it rain-gear or not, my hands were like prunes so a glass jar with metal lid rusted against the lip presented an almost insurmountable task. I worked so hard at it I almost solved the problem by accidentally dropping and breaking it, only I caught it just before disaster. For my last attempt I took off my climbing (biking) gloves, wrung them out (I could have filled a cup with the water) as much as I could, then held my hands on the lid for a minute or two, put the gloves back on and with the jar held between my feet gave it one last twist... and the lid turned ever-so-slowly but it opened! But now, in the whipping rain, how do I keep the notebook dry while I wrote my entry? To start with I made the mistake of using the felt-tip pen in the jar but enough rain hit the page that the ink ran. Ok, tear that sheet out and start over, this time with the small pencil. I didn't even take the extra moment to write about the wonderful view from there because, frankly, at that moment there was none.
Ok, the first summit has been reached, time to head back and maybe dry a little before taking the next one on. With the visibility so poor, whenever I had the opportunity I took photos. Eventually I got a few drops on the lens and in the attempt to dry it with my shirt, I made it worse. Unbeknownst to me, although my shirt felt dry it was thoroughly soaked. Whether it was rain water or from sweat, the material was such I did not feel wet at all.
Anyway, so much for more photos... but then I encountered a spider unlike any I'd ever seen before and I just had to take a photo of it. After trying everything I could think of to dry the lens I was about to give up when I remembered I had made off with Tracey's new camera (Canon PowerShot SX260 HS) to try out, and being in a ziploc bag it was the only item not totally soaked. So being very careful to keep the rain off the lens I took a half-dozen photos of the spider, of which only two were any good. The rest of the climb down I used Tracey's camera, but I took great pains to keep from allowing even a drop to reach it.
By time I reached the car, being soaked through-and-through I decided Peak 3086 could wait. With so much of the day left I was in a mood to explore the roads out this way but it wouldn't be minutes before the seat was soaked as well, so I stripped down and changed into a complete fresh and (most luxuriously) DRY set of clothes and set out to explore.
It did cross my mind it may not be the best idea to be driving on muddy roads through washes during a heavy rain with only highway-tread tires, but then I'm the adventurous sort so I didn't let it stop me, or did it? I guess you'll have to wait for that triplog to find out.
Although poor weather for it I took over 60 photos during the hike, but I still haven't had a chance to get them all geocoded and captioned for posting. What with preparing for a trip to CA next week, beginning the modifications on the Cherokee and trying to sell two vehicles it might be a few days or more. But... I sold the Samurai yesterday!
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Had a lump in my throat when it left... on a tow bar behind a monstrous 4 door Toyota Tundra. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
A Search of the Area, found some Triplogs and Photosets for this that looked and sounded pretty Sweet, and it was ON! My Gut Feelings on this were Confirmed when I did a Scouting Trip a few days ago...The Distance, Elevation and Appeal was Spot On, especially this Year.
I did ok on this Hike considering... I was pleased that I didn't hold anyone up for too long... 
HAZ and it's Members ROCK! 
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