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| Hiking | 6.46 Miles |
2,162 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.46 Miles | 6 Hrs 30 Mns | | 0.99 mph |
| 2,162 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | My original plan was to hike Sleeping Beauty and then Teapot. I planned on hiking to the Saddle South of Sleeping Beauty first, and then summiting Sleeping Beauty and then Teapot after that. Things didn't go as planned, though...
I started walking up the rugged 4x4 road from the bottom and wondered how any vehicle ever got up this road. It was extremely rocky with ruts and some large scale erosion in a few places, probably over a 20 year period or more. I took the road for 1.66 miles until I saw a small canyon to my right. The road continued West and the topo map showed that it may go downhill a bit, so I decided to take the canyon for a while. The canyon started off good but then got messy. I took the canyon for a total of only 400 feet, then exited to the ridgeline going Northwest. This ridgeline was much better. I found some nice cattle trails which I was able to follow for about a 1/2 mile. Now I needed to the around the mountain in front of me to the saddle South of Sleeping Beauty.
When I tried to hike around to the saddle from the Southwest, I noticed that there were at least 2, maybe 3, very deep (and steep) canyons blocking my way. The topo map really does not show this and sometimes you need to actually SEE the terrain before you can decide what's the best route. Well, I was already committed to climbing to the top of the Teapot ridgeline because it was really the only way to proceed. Once up there I realized the ridgeline was incredibly rocky and full of hoodoos. I started way up high hiking Southeast along the narrow and steep ridgeline. I thought I might reach a dead end, or something steeper and more dangerous than I planned for. I just kept moving along slowly, crossing to the South side of the ridge at one point, and slowly scaling around the towering cliffs. It took me about 1 hour to hike 1/3 mile of this ridgeline. I'm sure this was not the IDEAL way to go, but it worked for me. Finally, I could see the small saddle to the Northwest of Teapot mountain and the rest of the hike was easy in comparison to what I just did.
Once on the top of the wide ridgeline near the summit, I had to walk for about 10 minutes further to get to the high point. There were a lot of boulders scattered around at the summit, so there were some excellent photo opportunities. At the high point, I found a sealed tin container that was turned upside down. When I opened it up, the entire registry was soaked and there were a few ounces of water inside the container. I always like to keep metal containers with the lid ON TOP, that way, if there is rain, it drips off the top and down the side. I also like to put a 5 pound rock on the tin to prevent it from blowing around. Anyway, I happened to have a glass jar with me so I started a new registry and secured it under a rock overhang with some smaller rocks protecting it. I left the tin there also, this time upright with a rock on top. Maybe after some sunny days the old registry will eventually dry out and be a little more manageable/readable.
On the way down, I decided to try something much safer, although not a walk in the park. Going down from the saddle was very steep but overall a much easier down climb than going along the cliffs at the top. And down lower, the bush got pretty messy and there were two steep canyons to my left and right closing in on me. Getting down to the canyon were I did was definitely not trivial. I probably would have been better off getting into the canyon earlier. If I were to do this hike again, I would use my "down route" for both up and down.
When I got lower I found some more defined cattle trails and followed them down. Some of these trails went into and across some canyons. These cows are pretty smart at knowing where to go. They are better hikers than we know. When I got much lower, I saw a black cow about 100 feet away from me in the canyon. It was grazing and allowed me to get within about 25 feet away, then it ran off. I followed the cow for a while then saw 4 of its friends in another canyon. Again, I was able to get about 25 feet away, and they all took off. I climbed up on the ridgeline to the South and followed cattle trails all the way down into a canyon at the bottom. From here I could see the old 4x4 road again. This section of road was completely eroded away. There was about a 10 foot gap in the road that was eroded out, and the embankment was probably 10 feet high. I found a trail leading back up to the road. Once on the road, I walked about 1.45 miles to get to the bottom.
Stats:
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Distance (round trip) = 6.46 miles
AEG = 2162 feet (but felt like much more)
Strava moving time = 3 hrs 47 mins
Strava elapsed time = 7 hrs 23 mins |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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