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| Hiking | 9.19 Miles |
518 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.19 Miles | 3 Hrs 59 Mns | | 2.87 mph |
| 518 ft AEG | 47 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | | As a member of the 'All Trails Club' in the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, whenever a new map comes out with addtional trails I need to hike them to maintain my membership. I've been putting off North and South Diablo as they are about equal distance from most of the tailheads and farther than I've wanted to hike. North and South Diablo are designed with mountain bikers in mind as they both have black diamond rated areas. Decided to park near the corner of 135th St and Dove Valley and go in at a step over in the fence. This is what Judy and I ended up doing: Dove Valley Trail, Cow Poke, Granite Mountain Loop, Branding Iron, S.Diablo, N. Diablo, The Divide, Branding Iron, Granite Mountain Loop and Dove Valley. The Diablo trails are not marked with mileage markers as there is not room on the map and there are several small loop on both trails. I did a real poor job of estimating the mileage in the area to be about a mile and it turned out to be 3.5! So my planned 6+ hike turned into 9+. We had the time and water so no big deal. I've now completed all the new trials in the Northern section of Brown's Ranch area. A new trailhead at the corner of Dynamite and Pima Rd will open sometime in 2018....so I've got some time before I have new trials to hike. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Brian
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday......there is no SOMEDAY! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
. Started from Brown Ranch TH just before 5am. Started on Brown Ranch Road Trail. This is a main artery to the interior of the park. Very wide trail, usually busy. This is more of a "get you to where you are going trail"; minimal meandering. Then took Powerline Rd #2 to the Watershed Trail. The Powerline Trail is probably the least appealing trail out there. It follows the powerlines east-west, very straight, with some up and down. Watershed to Cholla Loop Trail. Watershed Trail is a nice single track that twists and turns as it heads north. Some ups and downs, but generally pretty flat. Cholla Loop to Stagecoach Trail. Took the west side of the Cholla Loop around the mountain. The trail starts out flat but rises slowly as it heads north and then east as it wraps around the mountain. Some very nice rock formations occur in this area. Stagecoach to North/South Diablo. Took North Diablo to The Divide Trail. First time on the Diablo Trail. Very nice! Though it is designed primarily with bikers in mind. I did this going west to east. The trail is not very long, but there are 5 sections where the trail splits offering various degrees of difficulty for bikers as they tackle boulders and hills. I backtracked and looped to hit all these variations. These sections weren't too challenging for running (very short in duration), but I could see them being quite the challenge for a biker. Took The Divide and a connector trail to the east side of the Cholla Loop. Pretty short stint on The Divide. Flat, with a small incline as it approaches Cholla. Also more rocky than is typical for these trails. Cholla Loop to Balancing Rock Trail. A lot of winding as the trail heads south with a definite, but gradual downhill feel. Balancing Rock to Chuckwagon Trail. Chuckwagon is a late but nice addition to the trails out here. Starts out going in a southwest-northeast direction but after it crosses the Powerline trail it takes on an east-west orientation. This offers a nice alternative to the Powerline trail which it parallels. Brown Ranch Rd Trail back to the TH. Nice loop! Saw about 15 bikers, but no hikers. Wildlife was mainly rabbits (a lot of rabbits!) and quail. Temps were great in the low 80's 
Dove Valley 
