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| Hiking | 9.30 Miles |
2,494 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.30 Miles | 5 Hrs 17 Mns | | 2.48 mph |
| 2,494 ft AEG | 1 Hour 32 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I had never hiked up to Elephant Mountain before, and with the cooler temps I figured that today would be a good day to do it.
I wanted to start the hike at the Jewel of the Creek Preserve, and take the Dragonfly Trail over toward Elephant Mountain. However, the Jewel is still closed so I started from Spur Cross instead. I decided to do a CCW lollipop loop hike.
The hike up to the spur trail was pretty straightforward. There was a section with some ankle-busting lava rock, so I slowed down a bit for that. On the way up I saw about 8-10 javelina, but they weren't interested in posing for the camera.
The spur trail to the summit was much steeper and much more slippery than I figured it would be. Throw in some rock scrambling near the summit, and this one isn't for the faint-of-heart.
I thought that the views at the summit were outstanding!
It was a slippery descent in places back to the Elephant Mountain trail -- I was crabwalking down a few times.
Once I got back to the Elephant Mountain Trail, instead of returning the way I came I went south on the Elephant Mountain Trail and took it to the Spur Cross Trail, and went back to the TH that way.
On my way back I stopped once to take a picture, and discovered that my camera was missing. I had it attached to my belt, and while the carabiner holding the camera in place was there, the camera had somehow disappeared. I figure that the camera case must have twisted off the carabiner on one of the places where I was crabwalking down. I decided to backtrack a bit and go look for it, but I did not feel like going all the way back to the summit, so I decided to end my search...bummer...but it could have been worse: I could have lost my keys, billfold, or pocketknife.
With my backtracking while looking for my camera, I added a bit more distance and elevation gain than I would have had otherwise.
This is a fun summit with some great views, but if you are expecting a class 1 walkup on a nice well-groomed trail you will be disappointed.
This is the first time I had been in the area since I hiked up to Skull Mesa back in the winter, so I was overdue. I like this area and I should go out there more often. One thing that struck me was all of the vivid green leaves on the ocotillo -- the ocotillo in the McDowells have no leaves right now. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
. We took a break near the junction of 1533 before heading up the hill here. FR 1533 was new territory so I enjoyed the views as they opened up to me. The west side of Skull Mesa looms large above and New River Mesa is tall to the left.
, beer time. Today was especially nice as to great views, good company and the entertainment available at this TH lot.
