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| | | Rice Peak - Pinal Co Hi Point - Silly Mtn, AZ | | | |
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Rice Peak - Pinal Co Hi Point - Silly Mtn, AZ
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| Hiking | 10.60 Miles |
3,415 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.60 Miles | | | |
| 3,415 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I have had the Pinal County High Point on my Radar screen for a while, so I decided to head towards Tucson and add Pinal County to my AZ County High Point list. I have now done 10 of the 15 AZ county high pointers, and hope to get at least 4 of the 5 done in the coming months. I still have to figure out what to do about Mount Graham.
I drove down and took FR 29 from Peppersauce Campground for about 1.5 miles and parked. As it turned out I could have driven another 3/4 mile or so and parked at the junction with 29-4472-4475. I was fine with parking where I was to make a more legitimate hike out of it. I think that a 2WD vehicle with decent clearance could go about a mile from the campground, but if you went much further than that it would be better in a 4WD vehicle.
My route on the way up went from FR 29 to FR 4472 to FR 4483, which led up to Rice Peak. Then I did an easy off-trail descent down the north slopes of Rice to the Pinal County High Point. I then retraced my steps back up to Rice Peak and then back to FR 4483. This time, when I got the 4483-4475 junction, I took FR 4475 just to take a different route back. I believe that @chumley drove up this road when he bagged the Pinal Hi Point, and there were some steep, steep sections of the road, which would for sure make for an adventurous drive.
On my way back into town I was driving through Gold Canyon and decided to stop off and bag Silly Mountain, since I had never done it. There is actually a decent trail system through there with lots of trails -- where else can you do a 1.8 mile hike and be on 7 trails? I did a short loop and bagged Silly Mountain, and there were a number of other trails that I did not go on.
The mileage and AEG for the 2 hikes are as follows:
Rice Peak/Pinal Co High Point: 8.8 miles with an AEG of 2,949'
Silly Mountain: 1.8 miles with an AEG of 466'
The stats above are the sum of these two. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
There were a few wildflowers in bloom on Silly Mountain -- quite a few brittlebush and globemallow, and a few creosote bush and Dichelostemma capitatum. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
. This is the biggest loop you can do on Silly Mountain and still stay in the “park” on designated trails. I got on the trail a little before 7am, just as the sun was beginning to lighten the sky. Went in on the Palo Verde and connected to the Superstition View. The Supe View is one of the longer trails at .7 miles and runs (primarily) along the eastern base of Silly Mountain. Views of the Superstitions dominate, along with homes below (unfortunately). There is a little bit of a climb near the end as the Superstition View trail reaches the highest point on the southern end of Silly Mountain. Enjoyed the views from the top. The air was clear, so the distant views were nice. From there I was briefly on the Jackrabbit, Coyote and Baldy trails as I made my way to the Crest trail. The Crest trail is the other “major” trail (also about .7 miles long) that heads in a north - south direction, only this one is elevated, running just below the ridge line. I noticed at its southern terminus there is a solid user trail heading down the west side of Silly Mountain. It heads down toward the homes in the area, so I am sure it used by the locals….might be worth checking out. At the northern end of the Crest trail is High Point - the tallest point in Silly Mountain Park. Short, fun scramble to the top of that. Once again enjoying the views. Then took the Old Mine trail back to the TH. It was actually a much nicer hike than I thought it would be. These trails, because they are so short, have always been a “throw in” when I visit the east side. But this loop holds its own. (Though it is still awfully short for the drive).
and I didn’t check the mail. Only wildlife was the suicide bee that flew directly into my forehead and stung me, I’m ok in fact I think it took out a couple of wrinkles 
. Enjoyed walking past the canyons on my right and looking over the East Valley to my left, extra nice having the sun at my back the entire time. When I approached Siphon Draw I called my wife for a ride back, based on her ETA went to the Prospectors View junction and took it and then Treasure Loop, timed it perfectly for her arrival. Now I can put to rest this idea about a walk to the park.
Busy trail for a Thursday morning!
Old Mine 
