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| Hiking | 4.50 Miles |
900 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.50 Miles | | | |
| 900 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | If you haven’t heard, Pinal County is working on a new regional park in the Superstition/Peralta foothills. This is the area just south of the Superstition Wilderness area just east of Peralta Rd. Construction has already started so I wanted to be sure to document one last trip before everything changes. In addition to hiking traffic, there was a wedding at the U, so Peralta was a parking lot driving in. There will be a Marathon finish at LGM on Sunday, so they were setting that up as well.
You can drive all through the area and there were many ORV’s throughout. I decided to walk through so I would see new things. The area was once the wild wild west of gun toting Dutch Hunters. The BLM state land is riddled with prospects and pit mines and current active claims like the DIBZ and the PERSEVERENCE. The county park will dramatically change the climate here. It’s important to document a bit of it before that happens.
I went through the Burns Ranch area that is in the middle of the park. I spent some time on new cuts and also along older roads like Don Hensley’s Rd. I also took some side trips to things I know about to get the current state. Some people think this is secret information. You can research the stories and blogs and decide. I’m leaving GPS on the pictures in case anybody is interested. This trip was to a small fraction of the things that are out there historically and otherwise.
After visiting Bob Ward’s cabin site and the Stair step mine, I took a new angle up the side of Hat Hill. I skipped Don Hensley’s steps, which are just south of Bob Wards. Hat Hill is also known as Peak 2546 Florence (Not Goldfields Top Hat Hill). I decided to skirt the brim of the hat to the north for a safer climb to the top. The summit of Hat Hill is the exact center of the Pinal County Park, so most of this will change in near future. I took a moment to archive the *summit log, since it will no doubt be removed by the park service. Not many names here and this is no surprise since visitors tend to keep their movements secret in these parts.
*I’ve noticed a general trend of disappearing Superstition area ammo cans and summit registers, like 5057 and Battleship to name a few. Not sure if it is the “leave no tracers” or somebody else. I wonder if registers will become a thing of the past? The park (already under construction), is upsetting a lot of people especially locals. It has always been a playground for Dutch Hunters and off road enthusiasts. Not many knew it, but apparently the regional park was actually approved in 2013. Much will transform in this area whether we like it or not. I'm going to wait and see. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
Fairy Dusters are peaking |
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