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| Hiking | 15.31 Miles |
4,406 AEG |
| | Hiking | 15.31 Miles | 8 Hrs 34 Mns | | 2.08 mph |
| 4,406 ft AEG | 1 Hour 13 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | We pulled together a plan late on Friday evening, with a fantastic weather forecast for Saturday. I'd had Tortilla on my list for a few years and threw that out as an option...exactly the smooth, on-trail hike chumley was looking for  . After overnight rain, some of the low peaks were still in clouds on the drive and early in the hike. No other vehicles in the parking lot, and it was in the low 50s as we started up FR 213.
We had a few route options loaded and decided on the loop, leaving the road after less than 1.5 miles to start the climb. We loosely followed the 2017 @jacobemerick route up a ridge, past some alcoves, then down into a drainage with quite a few bedrock pools. From there, we checked out a concrete dam, then resumed the climb up to the ridgeline that would take us south to the peak, and the views of the western Supes opened up nicely.
We opted to go up and over the top of the rock outcroppings on the ridgeline to avoid side-hilling through brush. That worked out well, though we did hit one spot that started to get sketchy, but a short backtrack revealed a chute with a much easier bypass. We detoured over to a window in the rock outcropping a little north of the summit--cool geology and formations in that area, then over to the summit with a straightforward scramble up the NE side.
We had cloud cover and cool temps on top, and the 360° views from the peak were fantastic. Many, many Superstition, Mazzy, Goldfield, and other distant landmarks visible. We took a long break up there and enjoyed our first food/water of the hike, then signed the register before starting down.
[ youtube video ]
We dropped down the south side of the summit block, which was mostly vertical and included some unfortunately placed catclaw and various pokey things to keep it extra interesting, but it worked out. We considered a few route options and decided to descend the drainage on the official route. Very steep and loose toward the top, but it was manageable, and distance-wise, it wasn't too long before we were back on Peter's Trail, which had been recently cleared.
Rather than walking 213 back to the parking lot, we hiked up to Fish Mesa and enjoyed the incredible views overlooking the creek. Past the benchmark, we took a relaxing break in the shade of the lone juniper before following the mesa edge north. By that time, the clouds had finally cleared off Four Peaks. Looping back to the road required crossing two drainages--one smaller, then down into a deeper creek bed, navigating a series of layered-rock levels. On the far side, we picked up a ridiculously over-cairned trail that connected to the road to finish it off.
Fun day all around--comfortable temps that stayed under 70° all day, nice clouds, great peak with scenic views, no new holes in the shorts, more flowers than I've seen on any other hike this year, plus we found some small ruins. Absolute gem of an April day, and I'm glad I suggested Tortilla and it worked out--the day exceeded high expectations. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
After our last Supes viperfest, this loop provided more open desert space to avoid getting struck.
Lots of bunnies call this mesa home as they were darting out everywhere, I actually almost stepped on one. Saw 2 white-tail deer on the decent off the mesa. Noticed the Wilderness sign off JF Trail was missing. Had lunch off the start of Peter's Trail next to a dry Tortilla creek.
Got to the trail head at 7:00pm and I decided to try and muscle up the worst road in AZ. NO AVAIL! If you dont have a 4x4 bad pumpkin kicking rig, walk from the parking lot! The moon was no where to be seen, and the stars, though bright, weren't enough to help. So by headlamp we meandered to the old trail-head/wilderness boundary. Being Ray's first real adventure, a few "what was that sound" checks were needed. Glowing eyes were in them hills! So I kept the schnauzer close, told Ray to man up 
and got us to a camp I have used before. We had a few kind bars, Odell IPA, and awesome conversation. 
, uhhh I mean creek, we donned our wetsuits, neoprene socks & gloves, and helmets and very slowly & carefully hopped/waded/swam our way downstream to Fish Creek Bridge. Near the bridge, we avoided the craziest section of the creek by finding one of the bypass trails. I added an extra 2 miles and 1000ft of elevation since I volunteered to power walk 
up Fish Creek hill to get Susan's SUV up at Tortilla TH and drive it back to pick up my freezing friends. I'm always up for a challenging canyon and I had a good time, but I don't think I'll be hitting that canyon ever again. 
