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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
921 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | | | |
| 921 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Another nice Trail by a Water Rat! We woke up to a nice Sunrise at Snow Flat where we camped, got packed up and on the road in short order. Went up the Swift Trail to the Cunningham Visitor's Center, which was actually open for a change, so we checked it out, along with the beautiful Flower laden Meadow there.
Drove back down the Swift Trail for a short distance to the TH for this Loop. Chad had already done the "traditional" Loop, so we took a Spur Trail up, and planned on doing the Upper Cunningham Trail when we got to that intersection. This allowed us to Hike the entirety of all of the Trails with the exception of a 1/4 mile of the Lower Trail where it intersects with the Swift Trail.
The old bod was really starting to protest a little about "more uphill" since this was my 4th Hiking day in a row, but I pushed through it and enjoyed the old Forest and Wildflowers along the way....After crossing a couple of trickling drainages, we came to the end of the Spur and had to off trail downhill to meet up with the actual Lower Cunningham Trail. There was a Drainage here too, that had a light flow, so I opted to go down the hard way, following the Water and Drainage....  Chad opted for a slightly easier route, around the deadfall and lush foliage surrounding the Creek. I hurried a little because I knew Chad would beat me to the bottom and didn't want him to wait too long, but as it turned out, he only beat me by about 15 minutes and I got some pretty Water shots, so it was all good. The legs got some new Arizona Pinstriping, but nothing that they're not used too.... 
We continued on, arriving at another Creek area, where I got a few more Water pics, then we found the intersection that takes you up to the Upper Cunningham Trail. Up we go, and once at the top, it levels out nicely. This was a beautiful area and the Hike was thoroughly enjoyable. Eventually, we arrived at the Lower intersection of the Cunningham Loop and took the Lower Cunningham Trail back around to the TH we started at.
We were the only ones on the Trail for a Saturday and you got a wonderful feeling of total isolation in an Old Growth Forest. Nice choice Chad, enjoyed this one quite a bit, even though, by the time I got back to the car, the bod was saying "enough already".... 
Another good day in the Pinaleno Books!!! Dropped Chad off at his vehicle and then I camped at Twilight, having the huge, isolated campground to myself on a Saturday night! Unbelievable!!!  |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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Cunningham Creek |
Pools to trickle |
Pools to trickle |
| | | At intersection of Lower Cunningham Trail. |
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Cunningham Spur Creek |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | At both the End of the Cunningham Spur Trail and the Intersection of the Lower Cunningham Trail. | | _____________________
| Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!" |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Hawkings Trail 
) we packed up camp and drove first up to the Columbine visitor center where we spent about an hour. The visitor center was closed all of last year and it was real nice to see it back open again, this is a must stop for anyone traveling on top of the mountain! We then drove back down the Swift Trail and started the Cunningham hike from the east TH first taking the Cunningham Spur trail up. At the spur's end we then off-trailed down along the drainage and onto the lower Cunningham loop. Hiked the upper & lower trails returning back to the east TH to complete the big loop.
