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| Hiking | 9.50 Miles |
700 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.50 Miles | 4 Hrs 30 Mns | | 2.38 mph |
| 700 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Plenty of Mule Deer sightings but no water flows. The deer wore inquisitive and fun through out this hike and the water was pooled and stagnant. All in all a good day on the trails. After last weekends fiasco hiking Groom Creek loop we figured we should give this area a second chance. Ofcourse we didn't make any mistakes finding the trail head this time and we managed to navigate this road pocked trail almost flawlessly, signage gets a little tricky at the 383/384 connector trail though and unlike last week without Wendi's help on this one I would have had us redoing the 384 a second time. Not sure what happened but for no reason other than getting old perhaps my knee became almost impossible to walk on just after leaving the Hassyampa and as we began the ascent. At first it started out as just a pinch but by the time we made it to the end of loop 384 I was in full can't walk mode. With that distraction, the disbelief that we could be at the junction already, and lack of any signage to the contrary I was certain that she was wrong but luckily I opted to check the GPS before I argued to much and to her credit she was right on the money. That would be my only complaint is that the connector trail is poorly marked in both directions, other wise signage was awesome.
We took a break at the junction and tried to ice my knee but knowing we didn't bring any ice I knew that was gonna be a problem. Luckily whoever advised hiking the north portion of these loops first is a stellar human being because the hike back seemed impossibly but thankfully shorter. I had Wendi drive home so she's the hero for this trip
Throughout the hike we saw plenty of folks using the trail for every imaginable and allowable use. 5 people on horse back, 4 people on ATV's, 3 Vehicles, a couple of hikers (asked us for directions which we gave), one bow hunter on a quad (correction, 5 atv's), 1/2 dozen campsights. Someone had recently (with in the last couple of hours)pruned the trail with more consideration to the equestrian folks. The deer were definitely the highlight of today's hike, but we sure did see a couple of horny toads, other lizard, squirrels, but no snakes. One black bird with white blazes on the wings and tail feathers that we saw repeatedly on the lower loop.
Still not sure why my knee went. Initially coming down the north end of the lower loop did take a little concentration to keep the ground underneath us but I didn't fall or anything. I must be getting old 
GPS indicated 8.25 miles for our hike mileage, though I am pretty sure we stuck to the trail to the whole time so I look at that a little closer and make any necessary changes. |
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| The Tree of Understanding, dazzling, straight, and simple, sprouts by the spring called Now I Get It. - Wislawa Szymborska, "Utopia" |
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Also added in the side trip to peak 6296. Great weather, 64 at start and 73 at end.
