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| Hiking | 9.00 Miles |
2,000 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.00 Miles | | | |
| 2,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The peak is in the Washburn Range, just west of Mt. Washburn. There's easy access from the Grand Canyon area. Take the mostly flat Cascade Lake Trail for about 1.5 miles through really pretty meadows, before taking the well signed Observation Peak Trail up for about 3 miles. The grade was fairly gentle, though seemed a bit rockier and steeper as we neared the top. The trail goes through pretty meadowy and wooded areas. We were generally too late for the wildflowers, but saw some pretty, dried remnants along with a few holdouts (geraniums, lupins, etc.).
It sits at 9,397 feet and, using a topographical map, we figured it was 2,000 foot gain. Nice views from the top, though with all the fires in the NW, our views were severely hampered by haze. We only passed 4 other groups of people while on the trail and had the top to ourselves for about an hour. Large rocks provided a good picnic spot and vantage points for spotting birds and trying (unsuccessfully) to spy loudly bleating elk.
We easily and leisurely hiked this in a half day, but there were multiple, easily reachable disbursed campsites along the way. Which would be a nice alternative to car camping in the very busy and RV ridden car camp campgrounds (though I have good things to say about the smaller Tower Fall campground, excepting the smelly toilets).
More info on the trail: http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/300080 |
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