Telegraph Pass

January 9 (Tuesday)

I've been looking up toward the towers on Telegraph Pass with guilt, thinking one of these days I really need to get out hiking and head up there. So, today is the day!

The trailhead begins where North Frontage road ends. There are a couple of parking lots and I chose the furthest from the trailhead. That's where most of the cars were parked so I figured the safest. I didn't get there until about 9 AM and there must have been 20 vehicles parked. This is a very popular trail.

The actual trail is not so well defined at the beginning. There are many trails heading into the hills. It turns out it doesn't really matter which one you start on as they all begin to join up and by the time you get to the start of the climbing portion there is only one trail…….up.

From the parking lot. See those towers on top of the ridge? That's where I'm heading.

A nice desert walk on top of a low ridge. Looking back toward Yuma.

Firefighters in full gear.

Lots of folks on the trail.

Those towers aren't getting any closer.

The beginning of the trail is a bit rough and some scrambling through the washes and hills is required. The trail then begins to flatten and you get to enjoy a nice stroll through the desert. There are outhouses and a garbage receptacle just before you hit the climbing phase. I was surprised to see the trail was actually concrete. I assumed as you got higher the trail would become more primitive, but it was concrete all the way to the top. That may seem to indicate that this is an easy walk……but it is very steep.

The start of the 'climb'. Concrete all the way, but STEEP!

Looking up. My leg muscles were screaming at me.

Looking back from where I came.

WooHoo! The top. This view looking East toward Welton.

The towers.

The trail from the top.

Towards Yuma

The foothils

The trail down

As I was crossing the desert portion I ran into four Yuma Firefighters dressed in full gear and oxygen apparatus on their backs. I figured this is good news for us old out of shape guys that were on the trail! They started out jogging across the desert, but by the time we were half way up the climbing portion a couple of the guys were slowed right down and I actually passed two of them near the summit. It does the ego good to pass a couple of firefighters, but in reality they were likely carrying 50 pounds of gear so it tempered my bravado a bit. In fact I was passed by more than a couple guys that jogged all the way to the top. Obviously they had done this trail more than once. It turns out I never did need the oxygen or have to call in air support.

Any pictures really don't show how very steep the trail was, but it was like walking up a staircase that never seemed to end. No flat areas at all. You can see more about the trail here: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/arizona/telegraph-pass-trail The trail is about five miles long up and back, with a 1400 foot elevation gain. I would never want to try this in the Yuma summer heat.

I found coming down the hardest. My hiking shoes are a bit big and I found my feet slipping inside my shoes. My toes would get jammed into the front of the shoe. Ouch! Once you get to the bottom of the climbing section all was good and I enjoyed the hike out. I got back to the truck just at noon, so about three hours start to finish for the hike.

Beautiful colored veins in the quartz rock along the trail. Rose, yellow, and blue.

The porta-potis at the end of the desert section and the start of the climbing section. See the towers on the ridge?

Octillo Cactus in flower

Elephant Tree. Very stout and sturdy tree.

The desert trail. Still a long way to go, but mostly flat.

Once I got back to the trailer the wind was beginning to blow pretty hard. The dust was kicking up and before long you couldn't see the tops of the Gila mountain tops where I had just been. The gusts were pretty high and sure enough a tree had come down just a site down the road from us. Thankfully it missed the vehicles and motorhome parked near it.

Near miss

Not much root structure. Very shallow roots as they water from the top. Nothing but sand below.

Park staff had it cut up in no time.

The dust storm blew in pretty quickly. The trail went to the top of those mountains. 

Just before 2 PM it started to rain. Yep, it does rain here but not often. I think they said it had been 116 days since the past rain. It rained pretty hard for a while and finally quit a couple of hours later. Sure washed the dust off things. I assume the desert plants enjoyed the drink. Maybe things will bloom soon!

Yes, it rains in the desert.

I forgot to post a picture yesterday of the Marines flying around in their Osprey. This is quite a machine. The rotors tilt on take-off and landing. The propellers are huge. I haven't been lucky enough to see them land or take-off yet. In the early days of this model it had numerous crashes but I think things are safer now. I can imagine the transition from straight ahead flight to near-vertical or vertical landing or take-off must be pretty 'exhilarating'! You can read more about the Osprey here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Boeing_V-22_Osprey

The clouds cleared up in time to get a bit of a nice sunset, and a rainbow. And that was Our View From Here!