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| Hiking | 3.10 Miles |
752 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.10 Miles | 3 Hrs 26 Mns | | 1.86 mph |
| 752 ft AEG | 1 Hour 46 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | I had been wanting to do the Upper Ruins for almost a decade now after having visited the lower ruins. SCA, Henry, Jan, and Yolanda joined me for this trip. TNM now charges an entry fee, so be sure to bring your National Park Pass if you have one. I had to make this reservation 5 weeks out to get in and lucky we did as this is the last weekend of the season for the ranger led tours to the upper ruins. We had 14 total in our group not including the two rangers. The trek stops on a regular basis on the way to the ruins to allow the non-hardcore hikers a chance to catch up and take a breather. There's a spring that runs year round that you get to walk through, which on our trip, was a gauntlet of flying insects. Keep your head down and you'll be through in no time  At a break after the spring, enjoying the shade of the sycamore trees and a ranger story, I spotted a snake, in a tree no less. Since when did they start putting snakes in trees? It's bad enough I have to look for them under my feet, but above my head, that's just not fair! Anyway, the group checked out my easter egg discovery and we continued up the switchbacks to the ruins. Much of the ruins are now off limits to tours due to stabilization issues and may reopen in the future once some restoration has been completed. The views and ranger stories were excellent, my group all enjoyed our visit to this hidden gem. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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Route Editor
Route Scout
. The last booth we checked out was a few snakes and a healthy Gila Monster. The Western Diamond Back they had must have been twice as wide as any I have ever seen. He said it was 5 and a half feet long also. Only saw the end button the way he was laying but it was huge too. Checked out the little Museum before we left. Interesting seeing the different styles. Afterwords we got to Big Daddy's Pizza at 10:55. They open at 11am....... on Tuesday! ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
This hike is in the 60HIKES book so I'm down to 4 to go! Thanks Wally! 
Pretty Slow on the Downhill, tweaking things a few times... 
Nothing new there either... 
The Upper Ruin is pretty Cool... Next Weekend is their last Tour of the Season. Still haven't seen the Lower Ruin as I had to book it back to Phoenix to return a bunch of Rental PFDs....
