Saturday, January 24, 2015

Dove Mountain and the Wild Burro Trail

Wed., Jan. 21.  In the mountains there is the promise of... something unexplainable. A higher place of awareness, a spirit that soars. So we climb... and in climbing there is more than a metaphor; there is a means of discovery."   What a great group we had! 46 people turned out for the hike! And we were greeted with this spectacular sunrise!

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A 40 minute drive north took us to Dove Mountain and the Wild Burro Trail, which is located in the Tortolita Mountains.  Dove Mountain was named from the word tortolita, which means “little turtle dove”.   Even the drive to Dove mountain took us through such lush thick pretty desert foliage before we hit the trail head parking lot. 

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The hike was through a nice open canyon with lots of views of the cactus and rock formations under sunny and warm blue sky.  Gosh, we love days like that!  The round trip hike was 3.8 miles in and out.

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About half way into the hike, some of us took an “up & over” spur off the main trail that was about a half mile that ascended and descended to the main trail again and the rest of our group.  It was a bit challenging but offered great views of the surrounding mountains and even a view of the valley to the west.

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We reached an old line camp and rested before turning around to head back out.

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There were even more newcomers and such jovial conversations among everyone could be heard along the trail as we marked off another hike from our ongoing adventures in the desert.  I had hiked this trail last year and it was just as nice this year. 

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