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| Hiking | 4.96 Miles |
2,110 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.96 Miles | 4 Hrs 10 Mns | | 1.31 mph |
| 2,110 ft AEG | 23 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Friends were discussing where to hike and I suggested Picketpost. I had done it once before, about 6 years ago, and I remember the amazing view from the summit. So we met at the trailhead and started hiking on the Arizona trail toward Picketpost Mountain. Oddly enough the signs at the Picketpost Trailhead don't mention anything about Picketpost. I am pretty sure that there were signs for the Picketpost summit trail last time. Oh well. We set off and I was in the lead since I had hiked here before. Very soon we got to an unmarked fork in the trail. Uh oh. Normally I download the official track into Route Scout, but I didn't bother this time because the trail was so easy to follow last time. We went left, toward the mountain, because that seemed like the right thing to do. Nope. Damn. It was only a few minutes detour but annoying and embarrassing.
The landscape was bright green everywhere because of the recent rains. There were also flowers in bloom along the trail. There were bushes covered with yellow flowers. There were also several different types of purple, red and orange flowers. It was very pretty.
Back on the AZ Trail we continued on. We almost walked past a trail that led off to the left, but I realized that this was the summit trail and we started up. The trail heads East toward the mountain and climbs steadily. There were some deep gullies in places on the trail which were probably from the recent rains. We stopped and rested at the saddle at the base of Picketpost.
I had forgotten how steep and climby this trail is. Not so difficult that you need rock climbing experience, but you do need to use your hands to pull yourself in several places. It is quite steep and just keeps going up and up. I did remember from my last time the one scary part where you have to traverse a steep rock slope where you really really don't want to slip. At that point a couple of our group decided it was too much and turned around. The rest of us continued onward and upward. From there onward there was still some climbing, but no scary exposed parts. There were lots of places where the route was not obvious, but luckily there are yellow spray paint dots on the rock to show the way. Without those markings, staying on the route would have been much more difficult.
Finally we reached the top. We took pictures with the mailbox. The bench is no longer there. I'm guessing that the folks in charge of the area got rid of the bench and the signage for Picketpost Summit to discourage the casual hikers who might not be prepared for the climb. We only saw four other people at the top and didn't run into anyone else on the trail.
After a short rest at the top we started down. the hike/climb up was steep and intimidating, but down was much easier and faster. We made it down in about half the time it took to get up. Some of that was because of the wrong turns we made on the way up, but down was definitely easier. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Many small purple blooms along the trail. Also lots of bushes with yellow flowers. |
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Also the AEG should have been around 1000' per my watch, but that may be because I didn't put my phone in airplane mode. 
