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| Haunted Canyon / Paradise loop, AZ | |
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| | Haunted Canyon / Paradise loop, AZ | | | |
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Haunted Canyon / Paradise loop, AZ
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| Hiking | 7.01 Miles |
1,852 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.01 Miles | 3 Hrs 16 Mns | | 2.17 mph |
| 1,852 ft AEG | 2 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Headed out to the Eastern Superstition Wilderness with a couple of friends today. Originally planned on running with them, but I got my ankle in a bit of a twist yesterday coming down the mountain, so I decided to just hike around. Dropped them off at Haunted Canyon TH (on Pinto Creek), and continued up the road to Paradise TH. The plan was to meet them along the way and do Paradise Trail with them.
I started up the road towards Haunted Canyon trail, and decided to try and find a way up the canyon to skip the long road switchback. Didn't find a very good path, but I did see a band of coatimundi at least a half dozen strong. I always consider it a good day when I get to see coatis in the wild.
The west end of Haunted Canyon trail was nice. Intermittent water all the way up to the saddle. View from up there was expansive.
The original plan was to head down Haunted Canyon Trail until I ran into the others, but the farther I went down past the Paradise junction (currently unsigned), the less I wanted to hike back up. So I stopped under a copse of trees, had a snack, and headed back up to the junction.
At the top of Paradise Trail, I decided to traverse the ridge to the northeast for a bit to get a better view. It worked out well. Found a bunch of garbage from what appeared to be some kind of camp, with a tarp and a bunch of water jugs (some with water, but the dry parts cracked).
The hike down Paradise Trail was gorgeous. Nice lush forest, lots of the red-trunked trees (I think they're Arizona Cypress?), and pretty good flow most of the way down. The little mossy cascade was one of the cooler things I've found in the Superstition Wilderness - near Paradise Spring on the map.
The more I explore this area, the better it gets. |
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