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| Hiking | 9.68 Miles |
1,369 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.68 Miles | 4 Hrs 17 Mns | | 2.26 mph |
| 1,369 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The climb from the TH to #9440 is not much, but feels steeper. The junction is located in a small bowl. Right is a mile to Toohey Trick Tank, but @prescottstyle and I saved the best for last, turning left to hike the loop clockwise.
After a 1/2 mile on #9440, we missed the turn onto the foot trail, so I marked it with a new cairn. 
We didn’t expect to see another human being all day, but one was coming down the Tonto Mountain summit trail with her dog. She had a German accent, and wished us “Guten Tag!”
We lost #9440 in a large pile of rocks, low-crawling a barbed wire fence, then thrashing through abundant catclaw trying to find it again.
Thankfully, the foot trail eventually turns to jeep trail, though we still occasionally got nipped by catclaw. (I have a painful barb buried in my right pointer finger two days later.) 
We'd spotted cattle, and their poo, here & there along the east half of #9440, but that is nothing compared to what we encountered heading up the west half (including two complete skeletons, in various states of decay). 
At the top of the climb out of the canyon, we found an unnamed tank consisting of rain apron of black plastic sheeting; two large, horizontal, metal tanks; and two tires full of water.
Tonto Mountain Tank #1 was about a third full. Just before the tank is an alligator juniper large enough that I marked it on the attached route. (Though it’s not nearly as large as the alligator juniper saved by the Granite Mountain Hotshots. [ photo ] )
Toohey Trick Tank is an elaborate setup with a wide rain apron of white plastic sheeting, draining to a big pipe, which feeds into a humongous corrugated metal tank, lined with plastic sheeting, and full of water. You could legit swim in it. 
Besides abundant catclaw, the terrain is grassy, with plenty of scrub oak, few cactus other than occasional prickly pear & whipple cholla, and enough juniper for sit down — but not hiking — shade. (Trail #9440 is almost entirely exposed to the sun.)
Besides Toohey Trick Tank, the highlight of this hike are the views: Granite Mountain, Little Granite Mountain, Skull Valley, Peeples Valley, flat-topped Antelope Peak and Yarnell Hill (28 miles south), and even Bill Williams Mountain (46 miles north). |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
A few ashen milkvetch, one or two of some violet thing 1/8" across. That's it. |
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Holden Spring |
Dry |
Dry |
| | | Metal box & cement box were dry, but there was a trickle in the creek | | _____________________
| http://prestonm.com : Everyone's enjoyment of the outdoors is different and should be equally honored. |
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