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| Hiking | 13.50 Miles |
2,210 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.50 Miles | 6 Hrs | | 2.25 mph |
| 2,210 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | As part of my recent hikes to trails I've done before, but haven't done in 15+ years and never logged in on HAZ, I've been wanting to made a return to the White Tanks. I-10 construction, hot weather, and general laziness have gotten in the way of that recently. With the recent turn to cooler weather and a holiday weekend with no freeway closures, I had no excuses left to not go. I decided on the southern loop of the Goat Camp and Mesquite Trails, but added Willow Canyon.
A slow start out the door got me a post 7am start on the trail. It was still pretty cold, so I started with the hoodie up and the gloves on. Those were both shed about a mile or so in once the climb started. I decided to start straight away up the Goat Camp Trail to get the hard part out of the way first. I had also noticed on the county map that a significant section of the Goat Camp Trail is marked as a rough section to hike with loose rocks. The older I get, it becomes harder to walk down that kind of trail than up it. Plus, coming down, at that point I would have been past the 11 mile mark and very tired.
The shade in the canyons on the way up Goat Camp kept me kind of cool and not sweating too much. Saw 5 hikers on the way up, 3 seemed to only go up part way and then headed back. Once I got over the saddle, the views opened up to the north, where the snowline from the night before was very well defined. It was also at that point that I noticed a herd of deer in the canyon below me. I spent some extra time zooming in on them getting some decent shots.
The level part of the Goat Camp Trail seemed to be the nicest part of the hike. the snow to the north make for great scenery, and the trail was level, making the hiking very easy and pleasant. I barely noticed the decent that the trail begins to make to the junction with the Mesquite and Ford Canyon Trails until I looked back at one point and noticed how much higher it was where I had just hiked from.
Willow Canyon and the lower Mesquite Trails had the most traffic, as expected. Mostly standing water was in pools in the washes, but in some spots you could hear the gurgling of a slow flow of water.
I decided to make it a loop, hiking the lower trails back to where I parked. it ended up being a little longer than I expected, but not unbearable. A mild slog a times, mainly being caused by the length of the hike, but nothing horrible.
Pleasant weather the entire hike, cool temps and sunny and clear weather. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
The "official route" on HAZ jumps off Mesquite Trail by the intersection with Waddell Trail and followed the road for a short while. I believe you should stay on Mesquite Trail and I did on my loop. 
