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| | | Palomas Mountains and 2 Benchmarks, AZ | | | |
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Palomas Mountains and 2 Benchmarks, AZ
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| Hiking | 2.50 Miles |
1,100 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.50 Miles | 5 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.30 mph |
| 1,100 ft AEG | 3 Hrs 35 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | The Palomas Mountains are 15 miles north of I-8 at Dateland, Az.
One must drive through a farm area full of crop circles in order to get to the desert road to the Palomas Mtns. Don't get lost amongst the circles. There's over 20 dirt roads thru those circles.
The mountain range I climbed "ain't like" most of the mountains in the Palomas.
This no name mountain's ridge-line is totally made up of a load of "spires". It looks like an organ pipe on steroids - Very narrow and steep - And not conducive for hopping from "spire-to-spire".
All the survey disks are on one spire area. A total of four disks were set in place, on this narrow, steep pinnacle, way back in the 1920s and 1930s (one disk was missing from its setting).
Tuff rock
A rock that forms from the products of an explosive volcanic eruption.
A hiker's definition = a rock not to be trusted to use as a hand hold or a foot hold. It crumbles into small bits of scree, and when the hike angle is high, a hiker may go on an unintentional "Tuff scree ride".
HA - I took a toaster sized Tuff Rock and tossed it onto a boulder. The tuff rock exploded into tiny powdery sized bits.
This 'tuff rock' was intermixed with the stable rock, about 50/50 - All the way up, on top, and all the way down this mountain. For me, this makes the up & down climb very slow going.
The hike itself started out as usual - A gradual rise in pitch angle, then ended up with the last one-third portion being what the survey datasheet calls "Very Steep".
It was varying between 50 degrees angle up to 65 degrees for the last 1/3 of the climb.
To stay safe, I had to hand-hold onto solid boulders as I went up. Going down, I did alot of 4 point (and 5 point) maneuvers to keep my "center-of-gravity" low.
The "tuff" rock had to be avoided at all costs.
Navigation
My research confirmed exactly which drainage to use, to start up the mountain, to arrive at the correct spire.
What I didn't know was - Close to the top, this main drainage split into 4 smaller drainages, at about 100 ft short of the spires. I first tried the far right, narrow and steep drainage slot. It ended up a dead-end. I down climbed, to get over to the next slot up, and tried that one.
Ironically, looking up the 20 foot rock slab to my left, in my second narrow slot, I could actually see a "Height of light" sticking up.
However, this drainage slot also ended as a dead-end. (no way to get to the actual top of the correct spire)
This mountain was teasing with me.
I down climbed again, and finally went up the third drainage slot that led to the top. WHEW !!
FYI - I won't publish the GPS track - I used both my handheld GPS and Route Scout on my iPhone.
I knew hiking up those steep, narrow slots would play havoc with GPS technology (not enough satellite coverage, etc). The GPS tracks had "spikes of track", having me flying off the mountain erratically.
Maneuvering on top of this narrow, bouldery spire was tedious.
Even some top spire boulders were "tuff rock" - It appears the surveyors actually shaved off the rounded top of one tuff boulder to set a survey disk.
The views atop the spire were great. I spent alot of time up there having lunch, and relaxing.
The down climb on the steepness was slowwww.
As mentioned, I did alot of '4 points-on-the-ground' maneuvering for the first, steep 1/3 down. I certainly didn't want to take the "tuff rock express" to the bottom.
Enjoy the photos. |
| _____________________
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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