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| | | Telegraph Gila Ridge Loop, AZ | | | |
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Telegraph Gila Ridge Loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 6.26 Miles |
1,966 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.26 Miles | 3 Hrs 28 Mns | | 1.90 mph |
| 1,966 ft AEG | 10 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Yoomapalooza continued on Sunday as Hilary veered farther left than bernie sanders. It left the Arizona west coast mostly dry for the day, though still cool-ish, mostly cloudy, and plenty breezy.
I decided to take a quick trip up to the towers above Telegraph Pass. Not sure why this "trail" is called Telegraph Pass, as the pass farther south, much lower and has an interstate going through it.  As it is, this is a stupidly steep maintenance road for the towers on the crest of the Gila Mountains, with views north to the Kofa, west into Kalifornia, east to the Mohawks and beyond.
The road is one that I'm not sure I'd enjoy driving. It would put a real workout on your gears and brakes for sure. While climbing the road, I noticed a singletrack cut on the south side of the drainage that looked like a nice alternative option for my return.
As it turned out, when I got to the top, I decided to just keep going, following the ridge north, then turning west before returning down to the starting point. There's a faint use trail and some occasional cairns along the way, but no real obstacles, and probably some nice views on a clear day. The last mile gets more use, apparently from folks hiking up from the bottom to some of the lower peaks along the ridge.
Dark grey clouds loomed all day, but rain never threatened. The humidity was thick, but a steady breeze in the 30s helped keep things in check. The wind picked up significantly as the day progressed, and several times challenged my ability to remain vertical. I did a fair bit of low turtle crawling to keep my center of gravity lower. I pulled up the readings from the Yuma airport, which was clocking gusts in the low 60s. Not sure if the topography I was on was enhancing that, but it wouldn't have surprised me.
Temps popped up into the 80s, and when the sun peeked through the clouds near the end I was convinced my death was imminent. Fortunately, I managed to overcome the short-lived August heat and get back to the truck where I promptly dunked my head in the icy cooler water.
That was it for my weekend. I hopped on the 8 and made a positively miserable attempt at driving home. Despite perfect alignment, I held the wheel in a 1 o'clock angle to offset the crosswinds. Probably great on tire wear! No typical two finger driving, but two hands gripping ten n two like the book says! A couple stretches of zero visibility dust and I was just hoping for dear life that nobody in front of me was going slower than 40 or there probably would be no way I wouldn't slam into them. Not an enjoyable drive at all. Nobody has ever been happier to see Gila Bend! Trip fuel economy was reduced by 4mpg from normal!!
Hilary weekend totals-
New hikes to me: 3
Waterfalls: 0
Wind: yes
Visibility: no |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
. That was half of the hikers I encountered 
. Slow day I guess but it was windy. This does look like the local exercise hike. It really does seem like a mini Thompson Peak in Phoenix/Fountain Hills.
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