Ragged Top, Ironwood National Monument, AZ

Known as "Ragged Top", this seldom visited peak is a very fun hike that is all bushwhacking, at least the route Jeff, Donna, Jerry and I took on Saturday.  The day was cloudy and kind of cool, around 65 degrees but that is perfect for this type of hike.  The dirt road is in good shape and easily driven in a passenger car.  After parking, we followed a wash, got out of the wash and began ascending in earnest.

The going was difficult.  Steep, bouldery, loose rocks, lot of fun navigating our way through the maze.

We came up through that but other than a few scratches, all was good.

There seemed to be a mist that had settled between each valley and with the absence of sun, it stayed there for the duration of the hike.

At a saddle, the views really opened up.  Just fantastic.  Then we turned to a stark stone landscape of steepness with some exposure.  Yes, very exciting as we carefully plotted our way. A fall could be fatal so routine things like handholds, foot placement is selected carefully.

While I took lots of video at the top, I forgot to take images.  Oh well.  On the way down, we passed a series of deep caves with small openings.  Hard to say what, if anything, lives in there when we are not around.  I was glad for the limited miles, only 4 and only 2400' of climbing because I had a big hike for Sunday.  More to come, later.