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| | | Black Mesa and New River Mesa, AZ | | | |
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Black Mesa and New River Mesa, AZ
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| Hiking | 13.40 Miles |
3,766 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.40 Miles | 7 Hrs 35 Mns | | 2.18 mph |
| 3,766 ft AEG | 1 Hour 26 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I had been out to Spur Cross in almost a year, and I got Tracie the Intrepid to join me on a hike to Black Mesa and New River Mesa. We had never been to either one, and we were looking for a couple of summits to bag, so off we went.
From the Spur Cross TH, in sequence we went on the Spur Cross Trail, then the Tortuga Trail, and then the Elephant Mountain Trail. After about 3 miles we got into the Tonto National Forest and followed a use trail most of the way to Black Mesa. We then went off-trail up to the top of the mesa, and made our way to the high point where we saw a benchmark disc and a reference marker. We then headed north across Black Mesa and made our way to New River Mesa, where we hit the New River Mesa highpoint.
There was a burned area between the 2 mesa that must have burned in the not-to-distant past: we could still see some ashes and smell the charred wood.
On top of New River Mesa we came across a few petroglyphs.
We then basically returned the same way that we came. There was a lot of lava rock to deal with on the hike, which made the descent much slower than it otherwise would have been. On the plus side, hiking atop the 2 mesas wasn't too bad, and was much easier than being on top of Skull Mesa.
We saw a white-tailed deer as we got near Black Mesa; other than a few birds, that was the extent of the wildlife that we saw.
It was a good day to be outside, but his hike is probably one-and-done for me: I didn't enjoy the tread all that much. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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