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| Hiking | 10.10 Miles |
3,064 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.10 Miles | 6 Hrs 54 Mns | | 1.88 mph |
| 3,064 ft AEG | 1 Hour 32 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Started on the Super Trail on a very chilly morning, the parking lot was almost empty. Hit the Pipeline Trail and headed up. Someone has painted all of the fenceposts/pipeline supports sticking up in and along the trail bright orange. An improvement from our last trip when these things were a bit more of a hazard. Onto the Four Springs Trail, the tank at Sylvester Spring was running. Kent Spring tank was iced over with an icicle dripping from the faucet. Continued on up up up to Pine Saddle (I think that's the right name). The thick belt of new pines growing here in the old burn area really looks healthy. The carpet of needles on the ground here can be extremely slick. A few years back, there was a little snow and they were like ice, I slipped and managed to find the only rock within 15 feet with my tailbone OUCH.
In the past, we've taken a faint game trail kind of northeast right up to the crest. But this trip we stayed on the Four Springs Trail to the saddle above Armour Spring and then found the route up McCleary. It's not obvious from the trail but once you find it snaking up through the brush, it's not too hard to follow. There are cairns here and there at some of the iffy spots. The views from the ridge leading out to McCleary are spectacular, we could see over to snow-capped Mount Graham. We hung around in the cold breeze for a nice shivery lunch and then headed back the way we came. The Santa Ritas are remarkable, so many huge trees of all varieties, pine sycamore madrone etc. Really a great hike. Didn't see anyone else on the whole trip |
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