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| Hiking | 15.00 Miles |
1,883 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.00 Miles | 7 Hrs 44 Mns | | 1.94 mph |
| 1,883 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | We have recently moved to the Power Ranch area and I decided to head over to San Tan Park to check out the trails. I have hiked the Goldmine Trail and Dynamite Trail before, but I have never gone on any of the other trails at the park.
I was browsing triplogs and routes and came across HikerDW’s route: San Tan RP Outside Loop
That looked intriguing and despite the fact that it was going to be hot one on Sunday, I left the house at 5am to give it a try. I was hoping to get a nice sunrise shot, but the mountain blocked the great colors. I did manage to get a few in, but only after I headed down the saddle and got into the flats. It would have been better to start at the visitor center for that.
The Goldmine Trail is what it is, it’s a nice hike up and give you a nice workout. I tried to climb up the ridgeline to get a better angle, but I could not get around the end mountain.
The Goldmine Trail connects to the San Tan Trail. This trail started off ho-hum. Lots of people hiking, biking and horseback riding, even at 6am. As I passed the visitor center, the trail greatly improved. It’s really quite scenic the farther down you go. I found the cool crested saguaro I saw in others triplogs, it was right off the trail. Very nice.
I continued on to the Malpais Trail. Every triplog I read said it was a bit of a slog as most of the trail is in or around the wash. That did slow me down a little and my miscalculation about that ended up costing me later on in the hike.
I loved the scenery along this trail as well. It was a little up and down and as I turned back to head back to the San Tan Trail, I missed the turn off and ended up on a little wash. I finally figured out I was in the wrong location and hiked up the hill to rejoin the trail.
Once back on the San Tan, it was also a little up and down all the way to the Dynamite Trail. I liked this section as well. The Dynamite Trail was an easy climb up and then down back to the parking lot.
The good: I was pleasantly surprised by the landscape on the southern and western sections of this loop. I am 15 minutes away from here, so it’s nice to know there’s a neat place to hike nearby
The bad: I overestimated by hiking speeds and ended up hiking in the heat. I am a bad heat hiker and it made for a very uncomfortable hike the last 4 miles. I was moving even slower than I normally move. I am very happy I did not underestimate my water needs as I needed every drop of the 6L I packed along.
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"Jobs fill your pockets, adventures fill your soul."
instagram: @andydilling |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Was able to (very slowly) jog from the top of Hedgehog to the parking lot, just in time to drive to kid's school and 30s after they were released.
. Started off with a very slow jog without mishap. Luckily the San Tan is about as broad and smooth as you could wish for starting from the TH area. Did the loop clockwise. Starting on the San Tan and took that out to the Malpais trail. Really enjoy the Malpais Trail. Lot of people think of this as a “wash” trail, and a good portion of it is. But the sand, at least today, was about solid as you could hope for and it always has some of the best views in the San Tan area. After the wash the Malpais becomes a nice single track as it weaves it way back to the San Tan. This is probably one of the more isolated trails out there....didn’t see a soul the entire time I was out there. Back on the San Tan, I took it for a short distance to connect to the Hedgehog. This is kind of a shortcut. Fun little trail that took me over a saddle and reconnected back to the San Tan. Took the San Tan back to the TH. Good loop with minimal elevation gain. No wildlife. Beautiful moonrise! Just an orange sliver as it crested the horizon.
