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| Hiking | 23.24 Miles |
2,908 AEG |
| | Hiking | 23.24 Miles | 7 Hrs 22 Mns | | 3.47 mph |
| 2,908 ft AEG | 40 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Up at 2:30am, picked up Nick at 3am & headed to Safford to get on the GET again. Left my Jeep for JJ to pick up at the western TH, then we started hiking out of Safford at 5:20am, with temps around 80 and 65% humidity 
The first part of this segment cuts down a paved road to some cotton fields, and then the segment follows the northern edge of the fields between the fields and the river for a few miles. Eventually you hit paved road again and cross the Gila River. More paved road for a little ways, then we jumped off the road and into Tidwell Wash. Nick got his morning surprise right off the bat when he nearly stepped on a juvenile diamondback rattler (no, that is NOT a stick!). Black and white stripes on the tail. A little farther up the wash I saw 3 mule deer bounding through, nice sized. We make our way back onto dirt road and turn onto another dirt road that's a service road for power lines...it eventually took us past a power substation, then another connecting dirt road dumped us out on Solomon Pass Road.
As we start heading up Solomon Pass Road, we missed the shortcut off the road that takes maybe a half mile off the hike and gets you off the road a bit. In this half mile we missed JJ, who actually DID follow it! After huffing all the way up the road, we eventually see where the turnoff connected back into Solomon Pass Road, at Solomon Pass. Was nice to stop and take a breather there, but the heat was intensifying so couldn't stay long!
Worked our way further down the road until we hit Bear Spring Canyon and its wash, then headed up that wash for several miles. Eventually it tops out around 5100 feet and drops down the final mile to the TH, which is also the western TH for the Safford-Morenci Trail (and the start of GET #13!). We made it back to the Jeep around 12:40pm.
Nick and I made our way back down the mountain to Safford for fuel and Arby's, and the trip back home. Amazingly, we never hit any rain, on the hike or the drive...thanks in part no doubt to finishing fairly early. |
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| "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." — Henry David Thoreau |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Saddle down to the Salt Trap/Gila Box Y 
Oh man ..... I had to pull over and think about my direction ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
I didn't care for that sensation. Otherwise a decent passage all in all.
