A climb over the mesa near the entrance to Long Canyon and down a steep chute on the west face, followed by a ledge traverse tothe south side of the mesa and return on a different public trail.
1 MESCAL MOUNTAIN This puddle at the main parking entrance is hard frozen today
2 Looking up Long Canyon, the direction we are headed first
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6 We reach the Mescal turnoff and start to climb
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12 Up on top of the mesa's lower level
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15 Our goal today is to stay below the uppermost level, but cross the saddle and go to a point off to the left
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28 Pringle's manzanita
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35 We can now look down on the west side, where we will be descending
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45 View from the southern tip of Mescal
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50 Starting down the big chute on the west side
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58 Now we are on the right level to traverse south, but first a look north
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60 The chute from below
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63 Working our way along the ledges
64 Dormant moss, that comes to life only after rains
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72 At the south end, public trails loop us back to the start
