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| Hiking | 11.29 Miles |
2,218 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.29 Miles | 8 Hrs 26 Mns | | 1.63 mph |
| 2,218 ft AEG | 1 Hour 31 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This was a hike to the summit of Wild Burro Mesa (elevation of 2,999 feet and prominence of 745 feet). This is in the area west of I-17 and NE of Lake Pleasant. I have read that the city of Phoenix might be annexing this area; if so, then I believe that Wild Burro Mesa will become the high point of the city of Phoenix.
I had intended to drive to Sweat Spring and hike from there. However, shortly after leaving pavement the road was really muddy from recent rains. Having had 3 bad experiences with mud over the last couple of years, and not knowing the condition of the road past where I was, I decided to park and begin hiking. The road was muddy for a ways, and then got much better. When I returned later in the day the road was virtually completely dry, so it looks like I should have waited a day. That way, I would not have turned a 5 mile hike into an 11 mile hike.
I hiked on the road to Sweat Spring, and then hiked off-trail to the summit. On the way, in remembrance of the late, great @FLYING_FLIVER (may he RIP), I took a detour to visit the ever popular azimuth mark, which was on a hilltop a mile or so from the tri-mark at at the summit.
After leaving the azimuth mark, I made my way to a ridgeline south of the mesa. There was LOTS of lava rock scattered all over the ground, along with some fairly dense vegetation. Of note, there was more staghorn/buckhorn cholla than I have ever seen. The last 500 feet of vertical to the ridgeline was very, very steep with all the rocks making for some poor footing.
I eventually made it to the narrow, rocky ridgeline which I took to the mesa and to the high point. There were great views at the summit, so I took a well deserved break there. I located the benchmark and both reference marks, all of which were stamped "malpai".
I made my way back more-or-less the way that I came up. The descent off the ridgeline was very, very slow due to the steepness and the terrible footing. Part of the time I went down a boulder field because I could at least see what I was stepping on, since there was no vegetation in the boulder field.
Due to all of the rocks and boulders on the off-trail portion, along with lots of dense vegetation, this was a more onerous hike than I envisioned. It is definitely some bad countrymalpai out here. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
There were some occasional brittlebush blooms, but that was it. |
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| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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