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| Hiking | 11.45 Miles |
3,867 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.45 Miles | 7 Hrs 57 Mns | | 1.44 mph |
| 3,867 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I’m co opting the Competitive Track for the purpose of this off trail hike. For years I’ve wanted to explore some of the “low lying hills” that make up the northern edge of the Estrella Mountains. Plus, I was hoping I might get lucky and come across a use trail that I had stumbled upon years ago. Arrived at the Desert Rose TH around 6am. I had a flashlight, but the cloud coverage provided all the light I needed. Sounds odd, but true. I took the Desert Rose in about .6 miles (guessing) to where there is a use trail that drops down to the Competitive Track. I then followed the Competitive Track for an additional 2.9 miles (3.55 all together) until I came to a point that seemed like a good point to start my ascent. I knew there would be a couple of false summits. I was not expecting 5 of them….I think. Honestly, they all started to blur together. The climb covered all ranges, going from mild to moderate to extreme. The slopes and the rockiness of the mountain played a large role in determining my incline. Some poor decisions probably made it more intense than it should have been. With the exception of one false summits, cacti was not an issue. In fact, vegetation was surprisingly light, though there were a lot of seasonal weeds. This did not impact the hike. At 5.65 I finally summited. Seemed to be the tallest peak in the area. There was a cairn there, so I was not the first. Garmin said 2840. I was surprised to see that there were 3 ridge lines that lead up to the peak. There might have been another one, further west, that I could not see. Look like I came up the most eastern ridgeline. Took some pictures and spent some time enjoying this hard fought battle. Fairly rocky up top, so some nice places to chill. But this was only half the battle. I still had to climb down and PIR looked pretty far from where I was standing.
I did not want to down climb some of my route up, so I headed for a wash between the first and second ridgeline. The descent was a lot easier than anticipated. Nice to have a “birds-eye view” of the slope in front of you. Rocky nature of the mountain made it easier as well. I was in the wash in under a mile. The wash wasn’t bad either. No major down climbs. Some Palo Verdes caused some minor rerouting. Washes typically provide some interesting views that you can’t appreciate until you are on top of them. Unlike the peak views which wowed me with the distant views. First sign of human foot prints was around 7.5. At 8.27 the wash intersected the Competitive Track. Then it was a boring 3 mile hike back to the car.
Great day for an off trail hike! Had some light sprinkles at 7am, otherwise it was nice overcast day. Blustery to start with, but had light winds for most of the hike. No wildlife except for lizards and a chipmunk in the wash. Did have a large bird squawk at me near the summit, but never saw it. However, its excrement was very evident on the ridgeline to the west. Never did see any use trails on the hike. If it is still evident it must be on one of the ridgelines not visited. Had two bikers pass me on the Competitive Track on the way back. As I got back on the Desert Rose, I could see that they were prepping for some bike event. |
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