Bear Paw Jan 14
Starting from the public Bear Mountain summit trail
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BEAR PAW
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The climb up to First Bench
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Instead of climbing Second Bench, we head left along a series of ledges
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This is the side of Bear Mountain tyhat few hikers ever see
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A waterfall forms here when it rains
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A series of hoodoos
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Our eventual destination is just on the other side of this saddle
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An unusual orange lichen
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Facing the hoodoos, a good spot for a break
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We walk this series of ledges
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This 'scarred wall' is an eroded surface originally formed by cross-bedding
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Rainwater stays here for extended periods
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Cross-bedding indicates ancient sand dunes
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Crossing another tricky ledge. The vlack streaks are places of long-term water flow in wet periods.
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We have reached our lunch spot, but first we takee a side trip to a lower level that may have been a Sinagua lookout position.
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It turns cloudy as a storm system slowly moves in
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Down from out view point to the Sinagua lookout point
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Heading back, we take a side trip up the saddle we saw earlier
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...To see this 'window' in the outer formation.
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This is likely to have been a Sinagua "mine" for building stones
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Looking back at the saddle where we saw the window, we now see the second group.
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The spectacular lo,e-green lichen
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Almost down - but is someone up there on the mountain naked?
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