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| | | McFadden Horse Mtn Elephant Rock Arch loop, AZ | | | |
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McFadden Horse Mtn Elephant Rock Arch loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 9.00 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 9.00 Miles | 9 Hrs 30 Mns | | 0.95 mph |
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none
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| no partners | | A nice all day hike (to be able to soak the cool spots in), and much better counterclockwise than clockwise IMO.
Parking area is easy to find, and the jeep road leading up from it was well graded with some nice views. More tire tracks on it than boot prints. A faded sign is at the junction of the horse trail, which I found easier to follow than anticipated. It gets a bit steep and a little loose in places, and had one significant deadfall we had to route around. I was able to clear about 2/3 to 3/4 of the deadfall impacting the trail on the way up due to the lack of density in them, which was kind of fun. It gradually more forested as you climb, and the cairns increase in frequency.
The plateau of the peak itself I really enjoyed - a really nice mix of agave, grass, and scattered trees gave it a fascinating ambience. Very few cacti. The trail does become a bit hard to follow once you're past the "peak" (we hopped over to find a USGS marker or register and were unsuccessful) but gains clarity once you're on the ridge where the terrain is obviously constrained. Other than that brief section the cairns were more an affirmation I was on the right route vs something I was searching for in order to navigate. Didn't see any boot prints, but some hooves have been on the trail recently, and we saw both cow and deer up on the plateau.
The scenic point at the end of the trail was a great place to stop for lunch, and well worth exploring. A few minutes before it there's some pillars off to the east visible from trail, and an obvious break in foliage to drop down and see them - well worth visiting.
We backtracked and looked for a way to connect to elephant rock arch - a direct route failed, but topo looked friendlier at a nearby gully/canyon and we found a cow path that took us to an easy if slow traverse across the side of the plateau we were on top of earlier. Some really cool multi-colored scooped out rocks that probably haven't been seen by too many people recently near the arch.
We ended up above the arch, looking down on the top of it hah. A really neat spot, we lingered there, dropped around the eastern side of the arch and onto where most people probably go, then wandered around there onto the little point north of it.
The hike back to 288 was pretty straightforward off-trail, we hit the road 10 minutes before sunset and had a simple hike down the road to our vehicle at the #146 TH with amazing views of the sunset (whilst snacking on BBQ chips). The puffies we wore in the morning came in handy on that walk down. 
More detailed route info on the arch & connector guides as they were written from this trip. :p |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Isolated
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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