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| Hiking | 13.11 Miles |
3,952 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.11 Miles | 7 Hrs 49 Mns | | 1.77 mph |
| 3,952 ft AEG | 25 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | This hike was a continuation of dayhiking AZT Passage 11E, Pusch Ridge Wilderness bypass. It was an out and back on the Incinerator Ridge and Butterfly Trails starting from the Upper Green Mountain TH.
Wally, Andy, and I got started from the Upper Green Mountain TH just after 7am. After a half mile of hiking and gaining a few hundred feet, you end up walking past the next parking lot which is barely a quarter mile up the road. I checked my old GPS tracks later and I had already hiked this portion of the trail, so we could have started at the next lot and saved some time.
Incinerator Ridge Trail has a steep climb, then levels out a bit. It seemed cool at first in the shade, but as soon as we were walking uphill in the sun, it got warm very fast. The elevation is around 8000', so the uphills were even harder at our advanced ages. As we got to the junction with the Butterfly Trail, a group of bikers was coming the other way. They passed Wally and Andy right at the junction, so the missed it and started heading up to Mount Bigelow and it's towers. As I got to the junction, I checked my GPS and saw they were heading the wrong way. I yelled three times and they still kept walking up. Finally I had to scream at the top of my lungs, at which point they both turned around wondering what my problem was.
From the junction with the Butterfly Trail at the saddle, it immediately heads downhill. The trail at first is very smooth, but then gets narrow, rocky, and even a bit overgrown. I think some AZT maintenance was just recently done on this passage, so the smooth part at the beginning looks like it might have been that.
The trail keeps going down at a steep clip. It passes the junction with Davis Spring Trail, then goes downhill some more before a brutal climb up a few hundred feet before leveling out a little bit before it ends at the next junction. I was ahead of Andy and Wally until the uphill portion, then Wally took over.
Andy showed up last and said that his hip was beginning to bother him. By the time we got to the end, it took 3.5 hours and we were pretty tired. We knew that hike back up to Mount Bigelow was going to be a slog.
On the way up we began to see more foot traffic on the trails. Two guys passed me and told me they saw Andy when I asked them and he seemed ok. Just below Mount Bigelow a couple was walking the other way and the guy told me they were looking for an old plane crash from the 60's, which he had the coordinates for. It was a lot of work getting back up to saddle getting all that elevation back, but I was getting used to the lighter air and was getting a bit of a 2nd wind.
The level part of Incinerator Ridge was nice, then the descent was a slog again. Steep and rocky with stiff legs isn't much fun. Once I got to the 2nd parking lot, I decided to just walk the road back to where we parked, which saved me 20 minutes easy.
Wally said Andy texted him saying his hip was really bad and he needed us to pick him up by Mount Bigelow, or something like that. there was some confusion as to where he was and wanted to meet. We ended up taking the wrong road and couldn't find him, and cell coverage was spotty. We finally went up the correct road and found him walking downhill on it, just as he had arrived. So it worked out as we would have been early and waiting for him anyway. Looks like he's going to need his hip checked out and reevaluate his hiking habits.
Long day on some rugged trails, but a day very well spent. Hoping the best for Andy's recovery and journey into elder care. |
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