53. South Rim Highpoints: After enjoying a sandwich and the
views on the South Rim awhile, I figured I should get moving. I still had a
good seven miles of walking to do. I wandered over to a high point toward the
south end of the rim, then approached another point on the way back toward
Emory. I made a short off-trail hike in light brush, partly along an
intermittent boot trail to the gentle summit (Point 7395)—hardly a noteworthy
accomplishment, although it was just far enough off the trail to get that
lonely feeling again in mountain lion country. I tagged the summit and snapped
a photo of Emory rising between the trees. As I headed down, I immediately lost
the boot track and became briefly disoriented, but knew that as long as I moved
eastward, I’d soon stumble on the trail, which I did after a short argument
with some brush. I determined that two easy off-trail highpoints added up to
one countable summit so I granted myself a second peak for the day. Seven to
go. The scenic hike back to Chisos Basin passed below sunlit Emory and offered
many more great views of the park. The miles slipped by like butter and I was
back at my cozy tent well before dark.
Miles and elevation gain included below. |
| On the way to the South Rim. |
 |
| Almost there. |
 |
| Minor high point. |
 |
| Emory Peak from a lonely high point. |
 |
| Another view of Emory. |
 |
| Emory Peak from the west. |
No comments:
Post a Comment