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| Hiking | 8.64 Miles |
1,281 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.64 Miles | 6 Hrs 48 Mns | | 2.22 mph |
| 1,281 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 54 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Peak 2766 is the highest peak in the middle portion of the Maricopa Mtns. It’s between the Juan Bautista de Anza Natl Historic Trail - (AKA Butterfield Overland Stagecoach Route) and Rte 238 (AKA Maricopa Rd).
I discovered the Juan Bautista de Anza Natl Historic Trail’s ‘route-between-the-mountain-ranges’ is known by many other names as well, and was used over 230 years ago to travel to what is now California. You get a good look at it from atop Peak 2766.
Surveyors went up Peak 2766 in 1936 and placed Estrella Triangulation Station. They also placed two reference marks on the very tiny peak. The actual top almost comes to a point. Very tiny.
To the southeast, down in the desert flatlands, they placed an azimuth mark for Estrella. I found the azimuth mark first as I hiked in from the southeast, using the original surveyors’ route. Actually, I used their route all the way to the top of the mountain.
The first 3 miles of the hike is in flat, hardened desert with minimal vegetation. I went directly to the azimuth mark with very few deviations from ‘straight’. There just isn’t much to maneuver around. From the azimuth, I had to use a soft-sand wash for awhile, before going up to a ridgeline. The ridgeline part of the hike (about one mile long) was all boulders, and was where about 1,000 Ft of the elevation gain occurred. The day was heating up by then, and the ridgeline portion seemed longer and steeper than it really was.
All four disks are in good shape and the three disks atop the tiny peak are almost within jumping distance of each other. The Height of Light wood and wires are strewn around the little top, as usual. Great views up there.
Two things that were not pleasant on this hike.
Gnats and gunfire. Every time I stopped to take a photo or catch my breath, I was inundated by those nasty gnats. The gunfire (with many echoes) almost had me aborting the hike. The gun noise stopped while on the first ridge, so I continued.
The hike back down the ridgeline and back to the trailhead was uneventful. Once back on that flat, hardened desert (the last 3 miles), it felt more like a ‘slog’ back to the TH, as I was covering the exact same ground again. No complaints though - It’s not often I can ‘hike-in-a-straight-line’, off trail, for three miles and not be concerned with things that want to stick me. |
| _____________________
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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