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| Hiking | 4.95 Miles |
394 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.95 Miles | 2 Hrs 23 Mns | | 2.08 mph |
| 394 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Since my goal is to hike every canyon on the Rim, I couldn’t pass this up, but also four miles round trip is hardly worth the long drive from Phoenix. So, after hiking Sandstone, I figured I would continue down West Leonard, three miles to where I had previously climbed out ( [ photoset ] ). Then I would hike back four miles along FR 295, and possibly FR 9715N.
The first ¾ miles of Sandstone are easy going. Not rocky. Little understory, other than grass, fallen pine needles, and occasional bracken fern. Few flowers.
The next 1½ miles are much slower going. But there are more flowers. (It took me 90 minutes, including photo stops.) Not many, but more. Geyer’s onion were most common, followed by yellow columbine.
I stopped for a break on the shelf where Sandstone meets West Leonard. I’d started hiking an hour later than intended, at 10:00 a.m. The sky was dark, with distant thunder. Given unknown conditions ahead, I decided to bail. Better safe than sorry.
Before my break, I had identified the east bank of the junction as a bail point. It didn’t look bad. Not cliffy, no brush or deadfall. But it was steeper than it appeared. Still, I made the 150 ft. to the top in eight minutes. From there, it was easy cross-country. I felt occasional raindrops.
The rain increased to the point that at Knoll Lake Rd. I stopped to pull out my trash bag “raincoat”. The problem with a trash bag “raincoat” is it doesn’t breathe, so I got soaked anyway. (From sweat.) Still, it kept my pack dry. Of course, the rain stopped soon thereafter. The thunder didn’t. One crack — there was no flash — was so close & loud I jumped & swore. I finished my hike a mile later, at 1:30 p.m.
On the way out, it started raining again as I approached Star Valley. When I stopped in Payson for gas, the rain got bibical. Thankfully, it stopped by the time I reached Rye. But in that brief amount of time, Payson received up to 1.78″ rain. That could have been a flash flood in West Leonard. I chose … wisely.
Rumble Video: https://rumble.com/v6vrlfd-hiking-sands ... n-rim.html
Vimeo Video: https://vimeo.com/1099033043 |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Other than photos, there were scattered tiny alpine false spring parsley. A dandelion. |
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Route Editor
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