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| Hiking | 6.00 Miles |
2,500 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.00 Miles | 5 Hrs 45 Mns | | 1.13 mph |
| 2,500 ft AEG | 25 Mns Break | 10 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Last year, after Tinajas Altas HP the day before, I remember this as a really hard climb. I wanted to see how it felt to hike this with fresh legs. Also, it didn't involve a lengthy drive down to the border or across the range, and it may be the biggest of the summits out here, by the stats. It was easier, but still a pretty difficult off trail hike and scramble which is harder than is reflected in the stats alone. I did find it was easier to move uphill especially above the saddle and the ridge was more fun this time. It is also a really beautiful range and mountain, and lot of fun, actually. Down was harder, but some of that was fatigue and some of that was that stuff like this is not easily practiced on South Mountain hikes or Piestewa Peak. I guess after 2 weeks since Montezuma Peak, I already lost that type of endurance? Maybe the boulders are just big, too? I parked pretty far from the GPSed TH thinking I might camp at that spot, but it was still rockier than desired. It did add some walking fitness to the hike before driving to a softer camping location.
There was water in the sheep trough at the tanks, though the tanks sounded dry when I hit them. Despite Yuma County having a wet winter, last year they were full and the middle tank was leaking water into a bucket and there was a pool below. Also, there were several decent sized pools lower down that held water which looked to be filterable. I had a tick on me near the saddle, in my shoe of all places, and what might be sheep scat was everywhere, so filter any water you intend to consume.
I love coming out to extreme southwest Arizona. If one applies the name that I often see given to this region, the Colorado Desert is my favorite desert subsection of the western North American Continent. At least, of those I have seen. Once you pass Gila Bend, everything is a lot nicer out here, both on I-8 and especially in the desert. Just bring water. 200 miles, by foot, at the beginning of summer? Death is almost certain. @LosDosSloFolks that is a movie reference, though reworded to reflect the desert. Guess?
Past Gila Bend everything seems more relaxing to me. The views across the Sentinel Plain and the openness out here are lot more enjoyable than the closed in feeling I get anywhere near Phoenix. Someday, the Rainbow Valley will be choked with houses and golf courses, right up to the base of the Estrella Mountains. Maybe, but I hope not. Still, here, where there is far less private land and even less available water, it seems like this desert is never going to be under threat of developers.
I enjoy the transition from the broad volcanic mesa tops and rounded lava dome-like mountains; Oatman, Woolsey, Table Top, and others I am unfamiliar with south of I-8, to the sudden change to dramatic and rugged fault block ranges almost entirely confined to the Mohawk Mountains and westward. Per the maps, there are other of these ranges south near and on the Cabeza Prieta NWR, but they are out of sight from the asphalt road. Fittingly, they have names like the very little known, "Granite Mountains".
The appearance of the Gila Mountains, and the other granite mountains is really impressive. The rugged craggy ridges and steep cliffs that drop down to the nearly flat desert, the deep canyons, the dry almost completely barren and eroded slopes that have virtually no vegetation make for some incredible scenery. The plant life, what little there is, is either on the flats out in front, or in the canyons themselves, and then it isn't very lush. The ridges are almost completely clean from my experience. None of the cactus, ocotillo and shrub cover that I see on the Estrella Mountains. Just agave, which is still painful to impale one's leg on.
Despite this, Bighorns likely frequent the ridges and rocky slopes, and there was what appeared to be, by its tail, a Chuckwalla sunning high on the ridge near the summit which took shelter in a crack as soon as it became aware of me. I was too early this year to hear a lot of the birds that were here last April when I did this, but weekends are best as there were no jets screeching overhead this time. Quiet and solitude. There were still a lot of hummingbirds in the canyon and near the abundant chuparosa.
I love coming out here. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Mostly chuparosa, but also brittle bush. The slopes had none of the stinky flowers that were here last spring in April. |
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