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| Hiking | 10.87 Miles |
1,125 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.87 Miles | 4 Hrs 34 Mns | | 2.79 mph |
| 1,125 ft AEG | 40 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | For some reason I think this is going to be a touch wordy.. you will see why at the end.
I will start by saying its my birthday and I decided to get away, alone and enjoy a wander in the desert.
I have looked at some maps online and saw a few spots in this loop that looked interesting. I was on a mission to check out the Aylor's Caballo Camp area as well as some arch that's named after him. Look at the head on that dude. Not only did he name a camp in his name, he named an arch that, I am pretty sure, he had nothing to do with creating. I could be wrong. Dunno. Oh, and there is a mine I wanted to see if I could find.
Dang I haven't even gotten to the hike yet.
Ok, so I got to the trailhead about 7:30. I headed out Dutchman and didn't see a soul. Pretty low key for the most part just wandering about. About two miles in, I heard a bark and some movement in the brush ahead. Not sure what it was, was figuring it was coyotes, but I am not sure now. Other than that, nothing too exciting, great views I guess.(my opinion later)
So Aylors Camp, I had grand visions of exploring a place that no one has been since he closed up shop, Maybe find some old stone walls or something. Nope, and I really knew that was the case but fun to have a spot to search for. I just wandered about, maybe I missed something. Dunno. I know I could have googled it or searched here, got the answer, and sat on the couch.
Wandered up Dutchman a bit more and checked out the arch. This might sound odd but I thought that if I was going to ambush someone, I should do it in the beginning of East Boulder Canyon. You could do it with awesome views of the needle.
There is a camp site right at the Bull Pass trail head cut off that has the only shade tree on the trail... ok there were others but.. I had a sit down, a sammich, hydrated with a pint of some homebrewed IPA, and look at the map for fun.
Pretty straight forward from there, back Dutchman, to Black Mesa, Its a bit of a slog up that hill, then levels out and cruising from there.
There is a mine along this section of trail and I was on a mission to find it. There was a period of time I was thinking the online map guy just put dots on the map for idiots like me. I would mess with folks a bit too. Had a bit of a tromp and was able to locate it and was stoked. It was really alot more than I expected, sweet.
Finished up and dropped down to Garden Valley and man that rain did it good, so green.
Just on Second Water and ran into the first people I had seen all day, two backpackers out for the weekend, I was jealous, I wanted to spend a couple days out there.
Stopped back at my folks, then they took me for berfday dinner at the Handlebar, fantastic food, a Hop Henge IPA, Hop Knot IPA, and a proper sour, I sit here with a warm head, proper buzz, and smile on my face.
It was a good day.
end all, I think I did this loop wrong, when I do it again, I would go up Second Water to Black Mesa.. Yeah, in that direction, I found myself stopping and turning around for pics and views. I also would have added maybe a loop around Black Top Mesa via Needle Canyon and back Bull Pass.
Ok enough..
Scott |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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Route Editor
Route Scout
I am over it, can you tell?
