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| Hiking | 17.84 Miles |
4,251 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.84 Miles | 11 Hrs | | 1.62 mph |
| 4,251 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Left NW Tucson with Tim around 6 am. Drove my RWD Chevy Colorado up Carr Canyon but couldn't make it all the way to the top of the road because of the condition of the road. 4x4 is really needed on at least 2 sections near the top. We decided to park the truck on the side of the road and just hike from here. We knew it would add some extra miles but we felt we could make and had lamps which we needed for the final part of the hike. It ended up being 1.9 miles to Ramsey Vista campground at the top, so 3.8 miles additional had we been able to drive to the top of the road.
We starting hiking on Carr Canyon rd at 8 am. The elevation at our starting point was about 7,150 feet. We took the following route up.
walk up 1.9 miles of Carr canyon road
Comfort Spring Trail # 109
Hamburg Trail # 122
Pat Scott Canyon Trail # 123
Crest Trail # 103
There was a good amount of down hill hiking on the Comfort Spring Trail. At the junction with the Hamburg trail there were signs marking all trails that intersected. The Pat Scott Canyon trial was shaded by many pines and pleasant with a lot of soft pine needles making the trail easier to hike. We got to the saddle and junction with the Crest trail at around 11:50 am. Pat Scott North was about 1/4 mile North of us but we decided to stop at the saddle for lunch and a long well-deserved break. After lunch we continued on to Pat Scott North. I thought about hiking Pat Scott "South" on the way back if there was time. It was only about 1 extra mile out of the way and I wasn't sure if I even wanted to do it on this trip because this hike was going to be very long.
We continue North on the Crest trail. I summitted Pat Scott North which was only a few minute hike above the Crest trail. Tim stayed below since he already did this summit a few months before. I signed the registry, took some photos, and got back on the Crest trail heading North. We took this trail about 1/2 mile North of Pat Scott North peak. We knew we would need to head East somewhere in this area to get to Ramsey peak. We didn't see any signs or obvious trails but we did see a barbed wire fence that separated Forest service land with the Huachuca Military base land. We turned right here and followed the fence line up for a while. We eventually saw a use trail or perhaps an old unmaintained trail heading in the direction of Ramsey peak. We followed that for a while, losing the trail at times and picking up other trails that led in the same basic direction. Because we saw multiple trails we thought these must be animal trails. In some areas we saw what looked like bear prints in soft dirt areas leading around the mountain or up. In some places we found ourselves bushwhacking but realized we were better off staying North of the ridgeline, so we dropped back down. There were only a few places where we could actually see Ramsey peak because there was so much tree cover blocking the way.
Eventually we found ourselves at the actual summit. There was a rock pile with a registry and some great views to the South. To the Southeast we were able to see Carr peak and the highest point in the range, Miller peak, which was behind Carr. We had already logged 8.9 miles to this point and knew by the time we finished this hike, we would be at nearly 18 miles. After signing the registry and getting our photos/videos and taking a long break, we finally left the summit around 3 pm. We had a long way to go to get back but we were prepared with head lamps.
On the way back, we stopped for a few short water breaks and a longer break back at the Pat Scott canyon trail junction around 4:30 pm. Then, we continued heading down the Pat Scott canyon trail. After a while, we saw some water flow in the canyon and some larger pools. We were getting low on water so we decided to stop to filter some more drinking water. I filled up an entire 1/2 gallon jug in a few minutes and filter about 1 quart for Tim. We keep moving on. It was very humid in the canyon with no breeze at all, which slowed our pace. At around 6:25 we intersected with the Hamburg trail and then a few minutes later reached the Comfort Spring trail. The Comfort Spring trail was a bit rocky, and there was a lot of uphill to do. We were already tired at this point, but we kept pressing forward, taking a lot of short water breaks on the way. We turned our headlamps on right before 8 pm and had another half mile of trail to do before reaching the road / Ramsey Vista campground area. Nobody was camped up here today. We didn't see a single person on the trails all day.
After getting to the road, my headlamp went out and we only had 1 light between the 2 of us. We were incredible tired at this point, but we still had 1.9 miles left of road hiking. We took our time in the dark, and took a few needed water breaks. We could feel the humidity, even as late as 9 pm. We eventually made it back to my truck around 9:20 pm. It was a very long day.
After the hike we stopped at McDonald's and each got a $5 McDouble combo meal + an extra McDouble. I haven't had McDonald's food in years and was honestly impressed by the relatively good value in the Bidenonmics era. The $5 combo meal came with 1 McDouble, a small fry, 4 chicken nuggets, and a drink. The extra McDouble was something like $3.39. The entire bill for both of us was under $16 which was a surprise. But, my "go to" burger is still the old reliable and customizable flame broiled BK Whopper!
Stats:
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Distance (round trip) = 17.84 miles
AEG = 4,251 feet
Strava moving time = 9 hrs 37 mins
Strava elapsed time = 13 hrs 24 mins |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
golden columbine, broadleaf woodsorrel, Lemmon's spring parsley, Smelly wallflower, sunflower?, Maximillian sunflower?, Dakota mock vervain, Leafy arnica, Western thistle, beard-tongue, wild garlic?, Little river canyon onion, hot lips?, Diablo helianthella?, horsetail, split larkspur, scarlet cinquefoil, Aspen daisy, black walnut, Indian-pink, scarlet bouvardia, sweet four o'clock, peavine, Parry's agave |
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Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
For my hike today, with issues I have been having with leg strength and balance, I turned around rather than risk a face plant in that crap. 
I have also been having some hip pain issues of late, so I wanted to get a little walking in to see how things felt. There was only a slight trickle in the creek, but I was not surprised given our less than stellar rainy season.
