|
| | | |
| |
|
| Hiking | 8.24 Miles |
2,764 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.24 Miles | 7 Hrs | | 1.18 mph |
| 2,764 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | Brian and I left East Tucson a little after 8 am and didn't arrive at this trailhead until 11:50 AM!! We didn't think it would take this long and we knew there was the potential of not finishing the hike before dark.
We decided to park near the corral and not drive down the rocky and relatively steep road going to Brush well. We walked down the road and passed by the well. When we were 50 feet past the well, we heard the loud motor start up and it scared the crap out of us!! It sounded like an engine running. We were very sure there was nobody anywhere around there and just didn't expect it. The motor is probably triggered by a float valve or something similar.
We looked to the South and saw our ridgeline but of course there was a steep slope getting up there. We noticed that there was an old 4x4 road that curved West and up to the ridgeline, but that route would have added an extra 1.5 miles and too much time. We scaled up the steep slope to the ridgeline. Once on the ridgeline, the slope leveled out a lot and we saw two tanks up ahead. There was a gate that we needed to go through right before the tanks. From here it was a gradual climb up the ridgeline which was rocky, but it was possible to step around most of the rock. We saw 30 or 40 cattle on the lower part of this ridgeline. The cattle ran away from us as we got closer. As we got higher up, we found various cattle trails that allowed us to get higher up the ridgeline. Along the way to Reiley, we were able to summit 4 other numbered peaks that were on the same ridgeline. These peaks were : Peaks 6305, 6521, 7105, and 7245.
We took a break on the SE side of Peak 7105 and it appeared that we had another 600 feet of gain to do. We saw evidence that cattle made it up this far and maybe a little further, but we don't believe cattle actually went all the way to the summit, although they probably COULD find a way. There was nothing over Class 2 on our route, but of course there are always steeper ways to go. The hardest and slowest part of the hike was from this point on. We found use trails but it wasn't so obvious which way to go. There were a few good ways. We also could not tell if these trails were made by cattle, but more likely they were use trails made from hikers and animals, like deer, etc...
By the time we got to the summit, it was already nearly 5pm. We found a registry at the top of a rock pile, signed it, and then decided to go to the Reiley benchmark. It only took a few minutes to get to the Reiley BM from the high point and the elevation of these points were probably within 10 feet of each other. We didn't see a registry at the BM area, just a rock pile.
From the top, we could see many peaks in the distance. We noticed the Rincons to the West, the Pinalenos to the Northeast, Chiricahuas to the Southeast, etc. We didn't see any more snow on top of Mt Graham as we did about a month before this time. We also saw a cluster of windmills somewhere to the South, probably a few miles from I-10.
On the way down, we stayed on the ridgeline for the most part. The upper 1/4 was by far the slowest because of the steepness and route finding that was involved. As we got lower, the cattle trails got more defined and faster going. On the bottom 0.75 miles, we needed to turn our headlamps on as it got dark. We felt that there was more lava rock on the lower section of the ridge on our way down. On the way up, we avoided a lot of the dense lava rock by staying on the East side of the ridgeline.
Stats:
------
*Note: My Strava crapped out and I needed to restart a new track going down... Luckily, I caught it in time to record 98% of my route down.
Distance (round trip) = 8.24 miles
AEG = 2,764 feet
Strava moving time = 7 hrs (estimated)
Strava elapsed time = 8 hrs 30 mins |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
 |
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
