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| Hiking | 11.95 Miles |
441 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.95 Miles | 4 Hrs 2 Mns | | 2.96 mph |
| 441 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Mid day hike in the Estrellas. Multi purpose hike today. Wanted to knock out the Homestead Trail, but I also wanted to do some exploring of the Estrella Foothills. Parked at the Estrella Foothills Community Park around 10:00 am. Went in on the Park Ave Trail and did some minor exploring of the roads in the vicinity. Then took Rum Runner up to where it junctures with a plethora of other trails. The Rum Runner is only .5 miles long, but it junctures with 4 other trails that head off in 5 different directions. This juncture is very unique with several hiker created spectacles. From this juncture I hopped on the JR trail. (The map for this system lists this trail as the Pirate Cove Trail. That doesn’t make sense with the “JR” abbreviation. I’ve noticed that Nightstalker, a frequent user of these trails, refers to this trail as the Jolly Rogers). Following the Jolly Rogers was a little challenging in that, it had four threads that broke off from the trail with no signage. This left me wondering if I was still on the JR trail or some user trail. Whenever I reached a break in the trail, I chose the westward option. This brought me to a dual track road, very close to the Park Ave Trail. I backtracked a little bit on the JR Trail and continued following another thread eastward. This eventually lead to where the JR trail connects to the PA (Park Ave) Trail. From this juncture it was a very short distance to reach the border of EMRP.
From here I took the Crossover Trail to the Pedersen. I was doing a slow jog on these sections and came very close to stepping on a rattler “shading itself from the sun”.  I was coming around a corner in a wash and there under a tree stretched a good sized rattler. It was 80 degrees out. I figured snakes would be enjoying the sun, not avoiding it. Needless to say my cardio was done for the day.  Hiked to the Homestead Trail and took that out to the Pedersen. Turned around and basically followed the Homestead and an old use road back to the TH. The road had me going under the EMRP fencing, but it was a very direct route back to the TH.
Nice hike. Enjoyed exploring and trying to figure out the Estrellas Foothills trails. Always nice seeing and interacting with the wildlife. Still have a decent vertical. Only met a couple of hikers. One surprisingly at the end of the Homestead Trail. I never see anyone out there. Great weather with good air quality. Nice views. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
No comment. Surprisingly buggy this morning. I wasn’t expecting that. Decent variety of wildlife. A lot of lizards, good size chipmunk, some quail, my first snake of the year (just a garter) and a hawk perched on a dead tree viewing its domain.
Route 
Dang it!) or anyone for that matter, except one lone, spunky little viper at the start. My expectations were met that these trails would probably be way more fun on a mountain bike. Reminded me a lot of the San Tan Mountain Regional or the Casa Grande Mountain Parks. Mostly flat desert with a bunch of sweeping turns. The eastern terminus of Homestead was a tease, especially after the constant uphill through all that monotonous desert, sand and a brisk headwind that didn't help. But wow! Corgett Wash looks as if it allows some great access to some of the craggy highpoints in this northwestern part of the range. Definitely will be back, especially if there are ways to get closer to the actual mountains with a wheeler and not have to hike all those filler miles.
