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| Hiking | 7.00 Miles |
2,851 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.00 Miles | 4 Hrs 58 Mns | | 1.57 mph |
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| 2,851 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | | |
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| no partners | | After camping just down the road from the trailhead, I was able to get on the trail at 7am. I've previously hiked to Nankoweap from the lower #57 trailhead, but never from the upper trailhead. I can say without question that the upper half is significantly more difficult than the lower half. I kept thinking to myself that I would hate to descend this trail with a full pack at the start of a multiday trip to the river. It would be no more fun on the way out!
So I was glad to be doing this one as a day hike, and made my way to the saddle relatively quickly. From there, I was a little bit surprised at the lack of any sign of a route up Saddle Mtn. Not even a single cairn! Maybe I should have read a triplog first? I fought through brush and tried to stay in the shade created by the towering cliffs above for as long as possible. It was steep, overgrown, scree, boulders, deadfall, and prickly. Despite the elevation, the sun was hot, and I'm out of hiking shape so it was an exhausting climb.
Eventually I prevailed, found the BobP-approved summit cairn, the benchmark, and the register. A remote off-trail peak like this doesn't usually have the names of four people I have actually met before, but this one did. Even so there was only one other group visit this year, and generally not more than 2-3 annually.
There were numerous signs of recent mountain lion activity, so I was a little surprised that I didn't spook it out of hiding at some point. I'm sure it kept an eye on me from somewhere!
Getting down to the saddle was slow going due to the steep grade, but was much less effort than the climb had been. Of course from the saddle, it's still a big climb back up to the trailhead, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pretty beat up by the time I finished. I was happy to hydrate with some cold gatorade and drive toward my lazy follow-up hike. |
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