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| Hiking | 5.50 Miles |
1,666 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.50 Miles | 2 Hrs 52 Mns | | 1.92 mph |
| 1,666 ft AEG | | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | After hiking Cunningham Mountain on Sunday afternoon, I drove through Blythe and stayed the night at Mayflower Regional Park. For about $40, you get a well-manicured, grassy campsite right on the Colorado River and clean restrooms - would stay again if I had any reason at all to be in Blythe.
I got up around 7am, after copious alarms went unheeded. I broke camp and hit the road by 8am. Figured I'd head home and save Orocopia for another day. Got a little spark of energy driving down the 10 and decided to go for it after all.
The drive from I-10 to the trailhead wasn't a problem for my Subaru. The road is a little sandy throughout with some pretty deep ruts along the curves- easy enough to stay on top of them. The crux of the road is a steep hill approx .4mi shy of the parking area. Turns out it was a piece of cake for my car/tire combo. Three cheers for not walking further than you have to!
Started the hike around 9:30am. From the looks of it, the first bit of trail is an old Jeep trail of sorts that nature has reclaimed. After about a mile, it turns into a use-trail mixed with some light cross-country depending on your route. Guess I neglected to look closely at the elevation profile before heading out because all of the ups and downs were news to me.
You get a good view of the peak itself right before heading up the final push. The views from the top are exceptional - snow capped Gorgonio and Jacinto, Salton Sea, and all of the desert peaks surrounding the I-10 corridor. Headed back the same way for the most part, however I did skirt around some smaller hills to avoid extra elevation gain and a tiny shortcut to avoid some extra mileage. My dogs were barking after two days of getting my hike chops beaten back into me.
While I was getting ready to jump in the car and take off, I heard what sounded like a massive gust of wind approaching me. I wasn't sure how to react. I couldn't see anything nearby and I've never heard a gust come at me like that. Turns out, it was the biggest swarm of bees I've ever seen in my life. Flew right over me without issue as they do. Pretty cool to see once I realized what was happening lol |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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