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Panther Peak Hike

11/22/2015

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Having climbed to the summit of Sombrero Peak many times, I decided to find a route to it's neighbor, Panther Peak.  Not a lot of hike reports can be found on the internet but one had a gpx file of the mostly off trail route and with my Garmin trex-20 in hand, I was good to go.
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There are a couple of ways to access the route but I chose to start from a turn-out off Picture Rocks Road where Panther Wash Trail crosses.  Almost immediately, the trail drops into a wide, sandy wash, which is followed for 1.5 miles. I walked past the point at which I should have gone off trail but my new, trusty Garmin showed me I was off route so I turned around and found a faint trail headed up and out of the wash.
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Classic Sonoran landscape.  Not overgrown and that made for easy hiking. The route, while officially off trail, enough people have walked it that there is a worn path that is fairly easy to follow.
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The route enters a drainage/ravine and soon I rise out of the valley with good views.  However, the ravine closes in around me and.....
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....becomes very boulder but the cairns are plentiful and show the way (if you look closely, you can see at least one cairn/pile of rocks center-right).  The climbing is steep but not too challenging.
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Close to a saddle, I have risen high enough that many peaks populate the horizon.
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At the saddle, looking to the east, I can see Sombrero Peak as I follow cairns and the faint trail to the summit.
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As always, the views are good, I find and sign the trail registry and then head back down.  I have gained only about 1200' so not a difficult hike.  Just good to knock out a peak.  As I had the advantage of height, I could see that the route went away from the trail head and if I went really off trail, I could strike out for the sandy wash and cut the trip a little short.  I entered a narrow wash and arrived at a narrow, horizontal slit in a wall where a lot of cholla clusters had been pulled together.  There were no cholla cactus nearby so I thought that odd as I stepped up to begin the climb out of the wash, my foot slipped and......
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...dang it!!!!!  I brought my hand to the ground to catch my fall and picked up several partial clusters in my hand. Fortunately, I always carry a pair of tweezers and once I reached the Panther Wash Trail, I would stop every 10 minutes, yank a piece from my palm and by the time I reached my car, they were all removed.  Well, this being Friday, I was jacked for the Buckeye game and for an epic Sunday hike.  More to come.
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    Mark is a long-time cyclist, hiker, golfer and plays some table tennis...ok, it's ping pong.

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