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| Hiking | 14.03 Miles |
3,500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 14.03 Miles | 11 Hrs 58 Mns | | 1.53 mph |
| 3,500 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 48 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | I had pieced together a loop starting from Garfias Wash, mostly consisting of hikes I’ve done before, including a big loop with Bruce, Karl, and Kathy a few years ago.
Got started just before 0630, with just barely enough light to see. John realized after a few minutes that he had forgotten his camera in the jeep, so he got an extra half mile of running back and forth to retrieve it. After that, we headed east in Garfias Wash, then turned north towards Hellgate Mtn. Getting to the summit was all offtrail, and we mostly followed my old track, first heading to the saddle, then angling up the ridgeline. Enough brush and cholla to make it interesting, but nothing terrible. Spent a few minutes at the summit, getting pics of the surrounding terrain, and hazy/dusty skies made for a nice sunrise. After that, we descended back down to the wash, managing to follow a few game trails along the way.
Once back at the wash, we crossed over towards Garfias Mtn, again offtrail. We followed some game trails up to the ridge. Once on the ridge, it got very steep, and we slowly picked our way through the rocks and brush. I had worn shorts to keep cooler, but the tradeoff was a lot of scratches. Higher up on the ridge, it mostly leveled off, but had a lot more cholla. Again, nice views from the summit, then we retraced our steps back down to the wash.
Heading east in Garfias Wash is easy. It was the first time I’d ever seen that section dry. John nearly stepped on a Gila monster sunning itself on the sand. I leaned over to try to touch its tail, but it was grumpy. Oh well. We went over the mountain lion den (empty) and to the first pools of water, which had a dead calf, then turned around to head south in Horse Creek. It’s more bouldery than Garfias, but still easy travel. Some gross water here and there.
The offtrail up to 3651 was the toughest part of the day. No trail, steep, loose rock, vegetation. Just like I remembered. It was warmer than I like, but still a nice breeze at times. Great summit views. Had a snack, then descended off the east side of the mountain. Steep descent, especially the top part, but we managed to follow game trails on a lot of the lower part, eventually reconnecting with an actual trail.
We followed the trail around towards 3392. Once at the point we would turn up towards the peak, I decided to sit this one out and wait for John to complete that one on his own. I had brought 4.5 liters of water, and didn’t have much left at that point. I took a break on some rocks and watched some high clouds roll in. Before too long, I could barely see John up on the summit, and a lot sooner than if I had attempted to hike up there. He returned pretty quickly and from there, we followed the trail out to the road. A few well placed cairns kept us off the deceiving cow paths. Once at the road, we followed it north back to the jeep, finished just about exactly twelve hours after we had started.
Good weather, and a great, but tough, hike. Didn’t see anybody else all day. |
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| Stop crying and just go do the hike. |
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I hope I can still tie my own shoes when I'm that age let alone climb an off trail mountain in a wilderness area, Bob Packard is truly the bionic man! 
