Yellowstone Benchmark

You have likely noticed that our posts have slowed down this year.  This isn't due to a lack of places to explore, but rather several unforeseen issues that have arisen recently.  These challenges, ranging from minor to serious nuisances, have limited our hiking distances and frequency for the foreseeable future.  We will keep you updated as we navigate the more serious of these hurdles in the coming months.

Despite these setbacks, we took advantage of a surprising cool down this past Sunday.  Temperatures, unexpectedly only climbed in to the mid-80's, so we decided to head out for a short hike to ensure we had a post for June.  We chose to search for a benchmark and azimuth several miles south of Colorado City, Arizona.

Six miles southeast of Colorado City, we took a right on Yellowstone Road (of course!) . . .
We traveled this well graded road for 11 (straight) miles . . . it ends at Yellowstone Ridge (of course!)

Now you understand why the road ends at Yellowstone Ridge!

One of the interesting things about this ridge was the variety of rocks . . .
In addition to the sandstone, the landscape was strewn with polished rocks, much like those pictured above

Kent standing on a point, checking his GPS for the location of the benchmark . . . we are close

If he would have looked up he would have seen the benchmark right in from of him

Yellow Benchmark (1952)

Now it's off to see if we can locate the azimuth . . .
It's suppose to be .4 of a mile away at a 300° angle from the benchmark

This small rock butte looks like a likely candidate . . .
The azimuth must have direct line of sight to the benchmark, and this location would fit that requirement

We climbed on top of the rock to see if it was embedded in the sandstone

Sure enough, there it was!

Azimuths are much harder to locate than benchmarks . . .
This is because benchmarks have coordinates while azimuths generally rely on descriptions

The Happy Explorers
 (Did we tell you it was very windy this day?)

This boulder had a lot of interesting features and a small window
(Notice all the little pebbles that are ingrained in the sandstone)

Kent was going to put his head up through this, but wasn't sure he could get it back out

Some more interesting patterns around the base of the butte

There's an animal of some sort in this rock . . . just not sure which one??

After spending time exploring around the azimuth, we decided to walk back to the benchmark
by following the rim of Yellowstone Ridge . . .
We are headed for that block of sandstone on the point in the middle of the picture

Here's that same block up close . . .
There was a large crack under Kent's leg that was separating it from the ledge . . .
One good push and goodbye rock!
(Not really, but it won't be long until this block is no longer a part of the ridge)

Having some fun with the rock conglomerates that were everywhere

Heading back to the highway, we came across this registry off to the side of the road . . .
Instantly, we wondered what trail was out here?
After a little research we determined it was probably a range management register used by the BLM

Right across the road from the register was another interesting rock formation . . .
Better go check it out!

Kent standing on the highpoint, with the cliffs that can be seen around Colorado City in the background

This turned out to be a fun little spur of the moment adventure.  If you're looking to do something out of the ordinary, like locating a benchmark and azimuth, you might really enjoy this outing.  We can almost guarantee there won't be anyone else out there exploring these cliffs and rocks!  Altogether we hiked about 1.5 miles (r/t) across a fairly flat mesa with little elevation gain.  Think about giving this one a try . . . it was a very good afternoon!