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| | | Picacho Ridgeline Attempt, AZ | | | |
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Picacho Ridgeline Attempt, AZ
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| Hiking | 16.25 Miles |
4,520 AEG |
| | Hiking | 16.25 Miles | 10 Hrs 48 Mns | | 1.70 mph |
| 4,520 ft AEG | 1 Hour 14 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Well, this was a minor disaster!
The goal was the original intent of [this hike from May][/ [ popup triplog ] ]; I came much closer this time, but ran out of sunlight before I could complete the intended route.
As opposed to last time, I parked my car near the pumping station at the northern end of the main ridgeline. This had the advantage of cutting out the sketchy drive to the usual trailhead and I imagine that any vehicle with decent clearance (4WD or otherwise) would have little trouble making it to where I started. Judging from the few but unmistakable social trails branching out from the impromptu trailhead, I'm far from the first to have this thought. Those wanting to bag Newman Peak but uncomfortable with the drive to the usual trailhead might find the extra few kms in either direction a favorable tradeoff compared to the standard approach.
The walk along the CAP canal from where I parked to the southern tip of the ridgeline was a little long but mostly flat and entirely straightforward; the only real "grade" was the scramble up a short but loose slope to the canal from the parking spot. I left my car around 08:30 and began diverging from the canal maybe around 10:15.
From there I made a beeline toward the indentation in the otherwise sheer cliffs by which I had accessed the ridgeline last time. The exact path I took up the short but necessary pitch of scrambling differed somewhat from before (this time I stayed a tad more to the north), but as before it was at least class 3+/4- with a hairy crux. Once atop the ridgeline I was able to get a better view of the wash a few hundred meters north of where I met it; following it would entail a strictly class 2 approach to South Newman Peak (4209) from the ridge to its south, a less scrambly alternative to the path I had chosen. I also noticed a potential access point even further south than mine, but did not examine it carefully. I might try the latter one out next time that I'm in the area—I suspect, however, that the scrambling will be at least as tricky as it was these last two times.
Once on the ridgeline the traverses north to South Newman (4209), from South Newman (4209) to Middle Newman (4162), and from Middle Newman (4162) to Newman (4506) were all standard. I once more signed the summit log of the former; as far as I could tell, no one had visited since my last ascent in May. As for the latter two, I was excited to have finally bagged them, reaching Newman Peak by around 14:40. The continuous views of Picacho Peak with several of the Madrean sky islands in the distance were phenomenal; once past Newman Peak, the views of the Supes, Four Peaks, and Pinal to the north were equally magnificent.
It was after Newman that the problems began. On some routes, the structure of the terrain, geology, and evidence of other hikers all confer a certain sense of inevitability to being able to continue forward. I think the Superstition ridgeline is a great example of this. Even before Newman, I often felt the reverse: there did always turn out to be a way to keep going forward (on a few occasions requiring a few meters of backtracking, but nothing egregious or even particularly memorable), but its existence felt entirely coincidental each time. This sense carried over to the segment of the hike north of Newman, except once past the peak I could not even rest assured in others' having completed the hike and posted it here.
So I kept following the ridgeline north from Newman, benefitting from small routefinding miracle after small routefinding miracle, until I finally cliffed out. The point where this happened, a large white outcropping, was fairly predictable, though I forgot to take a good photo in advance. My several backtracks in attempting to circumvent this obstacle are visible on the routetrack. Eventually I did manage to continue, downclimbing a tad to the east and skirting the steep but unexposed slope, but this would set the theme for the remainder of the hike.
The change of terrain required to dodge repeated cliff-outs made progress much more exhausting. I found myself constantly switching back, stumbling through brush (including quite unforgiving mesquite), and negotiating scree and small boulders, not quite scrambling but getting just as exhausted as if I were. The initial cliff-out occurred around 15:30, and by the time the sun set around 17:00 it was clear that I wouldn't have much light left past topomarker 3520 (sunset being at 17:20). Looking ahead, the terrain on the "recurve" segment of the ridgeline to the north seemed just as uncertain, and I had no desire to attempt to hike it at night.
Thus I decided to abandon my original plans and descend the steep wash leading down from topomarker 3520. The next wash just to its north seemed more feasible on the topo, but given that it was already well into dusk I didn't dare risk pushing farther. Fortunately, the wash, while as miserable to descend as any, didn't exceed class 2. I spent the entire descent fearing being impassably cliffed out by a waterfall; the one that I did encounter, maybe 6m or so high, was straightforwardly skirted to the north and then descended by switching back. (The move is visible on the routetrack.)
Sometime during my descent, which lasted from about 17:40 to 18:10, the almost-full moon rose above the ridgeline and illuminated my path from behind me. The light was sufficiently bright to cast shadows; past a certain point I didn't even bother using my flashlight. From the base of the wash, I paralleled the originally intended ridgeline across the open desert, reaching my vehicle without incident (save two old fences, easily circumvented) by 19:15.
On the drive back to Phoenix, I swore all kinds of oaths to never try to do this hike again...I expect to make another attempt at the end of this December. |
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