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| Hiking | 6.38 Miles |
2,016 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.38 Miles | 3 Hrs 4 Mns | | 2.08 mph |
| 2,016 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | South Mountain treat! I wanted something close to home and had planned on doing my “go to” trail….Hau’Pal. Got to the 19th Ave TH a bit prematurely and had to park on the street. Of course, as I was walking up the road the Ranger passed me to unlock the gate.  I got on the trail a little before 4:30 and I could already see headlamps breaking through the cloudy mists atop the Hau’Pal ridgeline. Someone had gotten a very early start! I hadn’t expected clouds for my morning hike and I was surprised at how they descended down the mountain. I was about half way up the trail when my headlamp became annoyingly limited. It was fine for illuminating the trail directly in front of me, but it was a white haze if I looked anywhere else. As I climbed the haze changed from a fog to a fine mist to a light sprinkle as I neared the top. There wear some pretty cool views of the valley initially, but once I entered the cloud that was all I saw. This was a fantastic twist to the usual humdrum of this hike. The Hau’Pal is steep and rocky in places (the ridgeline isn’t much better) and I did not fancy descending them in wet weather, so I opted to hike over to the Alta and take that trail down.
I’ve hiked the Alta a few times over the years and I’ve noted the old alignment frequently as I passed by the their turnoffs. Today, as I was hiking down I noticed a viewing platform that I don’t recall seeing before. So on the way down I followed the old track just to check it out. The “old track” is grown over, but the platform is still in good shape. It even has a rock bench. Hard to believe that I hadn’t noticed this before. Counted numerous ocotillos (around 15) that have gone down in the last few months. Brutal!  Even with the mild winter temperatures and the pleasant day of rain you can see the desert is suffering.
On the way back towards the TH I took a hodgepodge of trails. From the Alta, I took the Max Delta for about .5 miles to get to the old Derby Loop Loop (now part of the Las Lomitas Trail). From the Derby, I took the Ranger to the Crosscut and then the Crosscut to the Hau’Pal which I took back to the TH. The skies had cleared up as I made my way on the Max Delta, but clouds were rolling in again from the east as I hiked the Crosscut. Pretty neat to be able to “watch” the weather. There were quite a puddles on the Delta and the Derby, but the trails were in good shape between the puddles. Only saw 5 hikers; 1 on the Alta and 4 as I was finishing up. Only wildlife were quail. What a great day for a hike!
Totally unrelated side note: 10:46 Sunny has fledged!  |
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I finally added 1 more easy trail to bump up the mileage a bit only to end up on yet another trail which had me wandering around even longer. At least I spotted a cute baby coyote after returning to my 
. I turned away to give him privacy. When I turned back he was dragging his butt on a South Mountain paved road like a pet dog on carpet 
. True story! You never know what you might see on or off trail..... 
