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Hiking | 9.69 Miles |
2,444 AEG |
| Hiking | 9.69 Miles | 5 Hrs 54 Mns | | 1.85 mph |
2,444 ft AEG | 40 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | First trip out to table Top! It's been on my list for a while, and I was finally able to make it happen today!
Long drive from Gilbert, but the spectacular diversity and sheer amount of cacti made it worth it! It was glorious to hike through so many different types of cacti, and so very many of them! The saguaros are my favorites, but some ocotillo were starting to leaf out, and the cholla were glowing in the late afternoon sun. There are also some great views from the top, as well as along the way.
Table top is a remote location, and we didn't see anyone else driving in until we reached the Trailhead where there seemed to be a party! A big group was camping, and sadly two parties were in an aggressive argument over moving their vehicles in the parking lot (!). The lot itself was bigger than I thought it would be, and full! I was happy and surprised to see a pit toilet.
The road itself wasn't too bad. I never had to put my Cherokee into 4wd. That being said, I would not bring a sedan on this road with the many washes and some sandy areas. You would know not to bring a passenger car though, as there were multiple signs about how the road is not maintained and how a 4wd is recommended, high clearance is required. There was also an interesting sign about smuggling and illegal immigration. I've never seen a sign like that before.
The trail itself was great. Easy to follow. I wish I had brought some pruning shears to cut back some pokey shrubs encroaching on the trail, but even without them, the trail wasn't too bad. We enjoyed all the different rocks on this trail, too, from beautiful quartz to various colors of lava rock. Someone made an impressive wall of basalt nearer to the top after the steeper switchbacks end.
We were almost last to start up for the day, and we had the trail to ourselves up until the last mile to the top when we met everyone coming down in a pretty big group. As a result, we also had the summit to ourselves which was nice. After a leisurely hike down, we arrived back to an empty Trailhead. We had an uneventful drive out (no smugglers in sight!), and we were treated to an amazing sunset on our way out of Maricopa.
We saw one lone flower the entire hike,and I'm not sure what type of plant it is.   |
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