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| Hiking | 3.88 Miles |
963 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.88 Miles | 1 Hour 51 Mns | | 2.10 mph |
| 963 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | The “get ‘r done” list has been slow going for the last couple of years. It’s been awhile since I have been able to check off an area. Goldmine Mountain Peak has been on my radar for about a year, I was just waiting for the right season to tackle this off trail venture. Since there was very little information on HAZ regarding this mountain, I used a site called “peakbagger” to help clarify my objective.
Starting from the Th I took Little Leaf trail up to where it connects with the Goldmine Trail. Then followed the Goldmine trail as it started its steep climb towards a saddle. About half way up, just as the the trail turns to the west, there is an obvious split in the trail, with the split going more to the north. This split route is also steep, but not much more than what I was hiking to reach this turn and is composed more of rock than soil, which, in my mind, makes it easier to climb. Following this split trail you quickly reach a saddle that allows a decent, though limited view of the north side of Goldmine Mountain. Up until this point, I had been on an obvious trail, official or not. But from here on, I would definitely consider this an off trail excursion. The peak is off to the east and initially there seemed to be a faint trail leading toward it. This trail faded in and out frequently and more times than not I was making my own route as I went. Hiking the ridge line worked well for a majority of the time, but there were a couple of spots where I was forced to the north or south slopes. Negotiating these slopes was probably there most challenging part of the hike because of their steepness and the scree. Of course, there were a couple of false summits along the way…  . For being a “community” mountain I was surprised at the the lack of trails (from any direction) leading to the summit and there not being a summit log. Views were pretty sweet in all directions. The air was very clear from last night storm. No wildlife on the trail, but I did see either a very young coyote pup or perhaps a grey fox when I was pulling in to the parking lot. |
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Listening to Traffics John Barleycorn Must Die reminded me to have a single malt once back home 
. Lots of construction on Ellsworth and the alternate Ironwood makes for slow travel to Queen Creek.
