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| Hiking | 13.12 Miles |
2,564 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.12 Miles | 7 Hrs 1 Min | | 2.17 mph |
| 2,564 ft AEG | 59 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This was a hike to Horse Mountain, the highpoint of the Hellsgate Wilderness, which is one of Arizona's 89 wilderness areas. The highpoint elevation is not marked on maps, and all you can say by looking at a topo map is that the highpoint is in the 6,440'-6,480' closed contour; for conservatism let's call it 6,440 feet.
It was a near perfect day for a hike. The trailhead temperature was 28 degrees at the start and 56 degrees at the finish; it was a sunny day; and winds were calm at the start and it got breezy in the afternoon.
The first thing that we did was change to water shoes to cross Tonto Creek -- the water was icy cold!
The first mile of the hike was steep, so there was no warmup on this hike.
For the most part trails were in good shape, and most of the trail hiking was on jeep roads. The roads were a little rocky on some steep sections, but for the most part they were good to walk on.
The last mile to the summit and the first mile back from the summit was off-trail, but the off-trail was through open country with no bushwhacking. We were able to follow cattle or game trails for much of the off-trail hiking, and we saw a deer not too far from the summit.
The summit was a wide flat area in a forest, and the highpoint was not at all obvious. My observation was that the highpoint was in the northern part of the 6,440'-6,480' closed contour. I wandered around a bit and called it good as far as hitting the highpoint. There were lots of trees at the summit, so there weren't any jaw dropping summit views to be had, but I still enjoyed being up there.
There was lots of up-and-down on the hike, and there was about 550 feet of elevation to gain on the way back.
Synopsis
In spite of the lack of summit views, this was an enjoyable hike in a remote and rugged area. This one was more about the journey than the destination |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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