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| Hiking | 18.75 Miles |
2,061 AEG |
| | Hiking | 18.75 Miles | 7 Hrs 54 Mns | | 2.54 mph |
| 2,061 ft AEG | 31 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Wally and I started from the Gabe Zimmerman TH, arriving as the sun hit the horizon after a 2 hour drive in the dark. The last time we hiked from here it was 4th of July weekend. We took the AZT southbound that day and were more worried about the heat. The start today was much colder and required gloves and headgear to keep warm the first 2 miles.
The trail heads into the canyon and follows Cienega Creek for a bit before heading up a side drainage just past the train trestle, which is adorned with abundant graffiti. After that it makes a sharp left, which we missed and hiked nearly a quarter mile out of our way before we discovered it. The trail then crosses a road and goes under another train trestle that has a canopy over the trail with dozens of rocks on top of it, serving as a warning for hikers to stay under the canopy, especially if a train is passing by.
We made it out past Colossal Cave Mountain Park, almost 10 miles, and turned around. On the way back we had lunch at the La Selvilla picnic area. We also took a couple shortcuts on the way back. One was through Colossal Cave park, which maybe only saved us couple of tenths of a mile. the other was near the train tracks. During our first detour where we missed our turn, we noticed on the way back that there were older, faded AZT markers. We noticed that there a few dirt roads that led to the current alignment of the trail which was quite a bit shorter than the singletrack.
Saw roughly an equal amount of bikers and hikers, more hikers thru the park. Also 2 horse riders. On the way back there was a trail runner by himself who stopped to talk. It turns out we saw him last February when we hiked the Reavis Canyon passage north of Picketpost. He likely recognized me because I basically wear the same thing every time when I hike.
We arrived to the TH parking lot packed full of cars and people hanging out having a picnic in the pavilion. There was also a guy who had a video camera and was interviewing someone, and later was filming people as they finished up their hikes. |
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