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| Hiking | 8.51 Miles |
2,500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.51 Miles | 6 Hrs 58 Mns | | 1.22 mph |
| 2,500 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This peak had been on my radar for awhile. I wanted to make an attempt at it before it got too warm. I knew warmer weather was on the way, so I decided there was no time like the present.
Got to the parking area (just off SR 88) just before 6am. Temps were a little chilly (in the 50's), but that was ideal for a hike like this. Hopefully this would minimize the activity of some the cold blooded critters out there. Took a user trail to connect to Jacob's Crosscut which I took over to Siphon Draw. Surprised at the minimal activity. Only saw two hikers on the way up to the Draw. Took me about an hour to get to the turn off. Decent time. Things slowed down considerably thereafter. The drainage was a patchwork of heavy growth and moderate to light growth with rock slabs and boulders providing isolated islands of space to regroup and plan your next 10 feet. for most of the climb I was hugging one wall or the other do the growth in the bottom. About halfway up the drainage split. One went to the north the other south. There had been cairns leaning more to the south drainage so after some deliberation I kept to the south channel. (Both drainages looked doable and the north drainage would provide a more direct route to the goal). The south drainage ended up being a solid choice. A little clogged initially, but the higher up I got the more it opened up. Actually made it to the ridge faster than I realized.
Reaching the intermediate "crown" was pretty sweet. Not only were the views awesome to the east and west, the openness was a nice change from the foliage fubar on the climb up. Taking in the views I noticed that looking down to the east that I could see the upper end of the "Canyon of the Waterfalls." This was part of a hike I did a few weeks ago and got the wheels turning for an audible for this hike. By coming up the south drainage, I found that I "cliffed out" on the "crown". On the north side of the crown there was decent drop off. This caused me to back track a little and descend down the eastern side and trek along the base of the crown. After that it was smooth hiking on my way to peak 4102. There was some ups and downs along the way, but the ridge was very open so I was easily able to choose my rate of ascent/descent. Some very cool rock formations at 4102 and the views were stellar. Sat down and enjoyed the views and the weather. The solitude was great, though surprisingly, I could occasionally hear voices from the Flatiron.
From 4102 I started to walk the perimeter with the idea of trying to connect to the trails to the north (Praying Hands and Canyon of Waterfall trails). As I was doing this I was shocked to see a platform extending into space. It was to the north and below 4102 but I could imagine what it would be like to be on that plank and felt my heart racing just thinking about it. I wanted to check it out, but I descended on the east side and access from that side wasn't as direct as I thought it would be. (Getting to it from the south and west side is the way to go). I tried climbing one of a couple of rock buttes to get a picture but I wasn't able to see it from the east side. I did, however, get a jaw dropping look straight down  I was on one of the cliffs looking down on Praying Hands. Very cool...from a respectable distance. I enjoyed walking among the rocks, taking in the views as I began to work my way back south. Looking for routes descending to the east side, there were no obvious paths going down, but as I approached the crown the slope leading down to Canyon of Waterfalls called to me. Honestly, the descent down the east slope didn't look any worse than what I came up on the west side. With that in mind, I decided to give it a try. It actually worked out well. It was actually much more open, with less foliage making for multiple route options. I was surprised to find, as I neared the canyon to find water still flowing. This was an added bonus. I love the sound of flowing water. But it also made things slightly more complicated as it forced me out of the wash and up onto to the shoulders of the wash. Despite this challenge I was still able to connect to the Waterfall trail.
Up until this point the hike had just been me and the mountain. This quickly changed as I got on the Praying Hands trail. I encountered well over a dozen people, even before hitting the Treasure Loop trail. Even saw a group of people scaling one of the rock monoliths just north of the praying hands. It was cool looking up and literally seeing where I was a couple of hours ago. Also, noticed the platform extending into nothingness. Obvious, now that I knew to look for it. Had to deal with the masses as I descended down Treasure Loop, but I got off as quickly as I could taking a user trail that connects to Jacob's Crosscut. On this briefly, before taking another user trail back to where I parked.
Great hike! Happy that I didn't see any "cold critters", but disappointed that I didn't see much else. Rabbits and quail on the bottom, chipmunks on top and lizards everywhere. Temps were great again. |
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