The things you learn when you google your own name once in a while…
http://www.menasharidge.com/product.php?productid=16862
*This is a special bundled digital edition of this book. Buy the book at full price and get instant access to a downloadable pdf version. So it’s two copies for the price of one!*
Says my publisher. So you could load this on your smart-phone and not have to hike with the physical book.
The week before last, I had a camping trip all arranged - and then everybody backed out but me.
I went anyways, free from logistical negotiations (or the company of others).On my journey, I stopped to take pictures for my ongoing camping blog [column?] for Examiner.com. These will all eventually turn into articles, and I’ll link them here as they go online.
North of Globe, state highway 288 splits from 188 just past the east end of Lake Roosevelt, and begins to climb up into the Sierra Ancha Mountains. Don’t let the highway designation fool ya, AZ288 winds and dips and is only partially paved. I stopped and took photos of Sawmill Flats and Rose Creek campgrounds.
To the west is Salome Wilderness where lies Hell’s Hole. To the East is the Sierra Ancha wilderness, where I hiked the Sierra Ancha Superloop.
North of the wilderness areas, the road rolls through juniper scrub and finally into Pleasant Valley, where lies the town of Young. Finding a meal in Young has always challenged me, but I came upon Buddi’s Gas and Minimart, where the nice lady sold me a microwaved burrito. That’s the best meal service I’ve ever gotten in that community, built mostly by and for retirees and their hobby ranches. Tourists are somewhat beside the point.
Just north of Young, I split left to take FR 200 up Haigler Canyon to visit two more campgrounds. I stopped to read a sign about the Heber-Reno Sheep Driveway, a 3 mile wide corridor through which Basque herders drive sheep up to their summer pastures on top of the Mogollon Rim in the spring, and then back down to their winter pastures outside of Chandler in September. I literally thought to myself, “It’s September. Maybe I’ll see some…”
And there they were, on the other side of the road. The herder I talked to said they’d been on the trail for about three days. Photos on my other blog (because I’m outta space here): What Have We Learned.
It was raining on and off, but the gravel of FR 200 held firm. Alderwood Campground is remote, despite being tucked behind a small housing development. Haigler Canyon is more developed, but was empty save for cows when I visited. Even the hosts were gone.
FR200 dumps into FR 291, which dumps into AZ 260 - which is a real highway. I took that to the visitor’s center atop the rim, then cut through the FR 171 camping area, where a number of numbered campsites sit right on top of the Mogollon Rim. This is where I was with the kids when we were rained out prior to our General Crook Trail hike a few years ago. (Still one of my favorite articles.)
FR171 joins - yep - AZ288 on the other side, where I turned south towards a quartet of campgrounds in the NE corner of the Tonto NF. I had been warned that the Rodeo-Chedaski fire of several years ago had devastated the whole area, but I can report that while you can certainly see wide swaths of damage, the campgrounds are just fine.
and Upper Canyon Creek, where I ultimately camped.
There is a listed trail near Valentine Ridge (#550) which was scratched from my itinerary late in the guidebook days. It is geared (and graded) towards mountain bikes, so now I’m glad I skipped it.
The next morning I woke up, got to wear a jacket for a few hours (those not from Phoenix do not realize how special that is by September) and burned back to the valley to take care of other things.
Next time - more behind-the-hike stuff.
After our dayhike to Tule Mesa, Ben and I drove to Salt Flat campground and spent the night.
The Prescott National Forest has vague criteria for what is and is not a fee area. Essentially, though, it boils down to water, toilets and some sort of full-time host. Salt Flat has none of this - so its free. It does have picnic tables and fire rings - though the Prescott is currently under fire restrictions.
We woke up in the morning, packed our bags, threw the balance into the vehicle, and crossed the dry wash to the Salt Flat TH, where the Nelson Trail begins.
The Nelson is the central trail for the Pine Mountain Wilderness - just about every other trai connectes with it a some point.
We soon reached the Nelson Place, which consists of remnant stone walls and huge trees (Arizona sycamore, cottonwood, oaks) growing from Nelson Springs. These springs are the only reliable fresh water in the area, inconveniently located less than a mile from the TH. In fact, we soon came upon a pair of backpackers on their way out who reported that all the other springs they came across had been dry.
Which is why I was lugging five liters of water.
All of which I would end up using.
From the Nelson, we went east on the Willow Springs Trail. Willow Springs seemed dry, but there were some puddles in the streambed. Ah well. That trail climbs up Willow Canyon until it meets the Verde Rim Trail - the other main trail in the wilderness. At that junction, we had climbed about a thousand feet in four miles.
Verde Rim features jaw-dropping views of the Verde Valley to the east - the good part where the Wild and Scenic portion flows in front of the Mazazatl Wilderness. On a clear day, such as that one, you can see Horshoe Lake far to the SE.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that it keeps climbing as you head south.
[If you go north, though, you will eventually come upon a jeep trail that will lead you to Cavalier Point - a plan that we rejected only after much debate.]
Soon, you start switching back up the slopes f Pine Mountain, coming within 500′ of the peak. At that point, the signed spur trail to the top is certainly worth the marginal extra exertion.
Past Pine Mountain, we began to wind down the ridge, crossing limestone-covered ridges, and fiannly descending into some pine forest, where we camped.
Having emtied our water, we found ourselves filling our bottles from a deep, but bug-infested puddle while mosquitoes filled themselves on us. Even though I got to use all my filter/chemical/boil methodology, the effort was not recreational, and we decided to opt out of our optional second night.
Instead, we returned to the Nelson Trail, follwoing it through pine forest both burned-out and pristine, and back to our car.
Total estimated mileage: 14
Total hike time: 14 hours
Pine Mountain Wilderness is obscure and poorly documented compared to some other wilderness areas, but the trails are in good shape, and the journey is worth it - providing you come prepared.
Photos on my personal blog (where I have bandwidth left): What Have We Learned?
If you take FR68 east of Dugas (which is not actually a town, but the remains of a settlement crumbling on what is now private ranch land) you will come to a Y. Your decision: take the easy road (right) towards the Salt Flats “campground” and the Pine Mountain Wilderness, or take the left fork, dubbed 68G towards - well the edge of the cliff.
If you read last post, you know which one I took.
The signs become increasingly ominous about the “primitive” and “unmaintained” nature of 68G, and, true to the warnings, the road becomse worse the farther you go in.
About 4 miles in, as I’m prodding my 06 Chevy Equinox through what is essentially a trench filled with lava rock, we have to back up to allow an older couple in a Toyota 4X4 Truck to get past us. The man says, swear to God, “You haven’t gotten to the really rocky part yet…”
A mile later, we got to it. And there, I found the Equinox Filter: a stair of rock about 20″ high that spun the tires of my HC but definitely Front-wheel-Drive crossover (pretend) SUV no matter which angle I tried. When I had smelt enough of my own burning rubber, I backed it up, and found a place to park the thing.
Yeah - that’s right - I couldn’t get the Equinox as far as I got the Cavalier. It may be a sign of wisdom, or it may be a sign of deeper erosion in the road. In any case, Ben and I climbed out and hiked the remaining three miles or so to Cavalier Point: a sizeable juniper just off the road from the cattleguard that separates the 68G from “Verde Hot Springs Road”. The latter road is marked as “Unfit for Public Travel” and is officially closed to motor vehicles at this writing.
My straps were long gone.
We did, however find the norther terminus to something called Trail #27 which goes into the largely undocumented Cedar Bench Wilderness that covers half the northern slope of Tule Mesa. The southern terminus is, in theory, a graded dirt trailhead near Camp Verde. I’m adding that to my To Do list.
Meanwhile, while daylight remained, Ben and I drover around the other fork in the road - to Pine Mountain. That account will be the next post.
Photos on my personal blog (where I have bandwidth left): What Have We Learned?
About five years ago, Ben (then 7) and I climbed into a Chevy Cavalier and headed off for Fossil Springs. My plan was to intorduce Ben to backpacking. The problem wit this plan was that I was driving.
From Phoenix, I-17 to AZ 260 to FR720 seemed kinda dull, especially when my AZ Gazetteer showed a more direct route through Dugas. I should not here, in some feeble defense, that the Gazetteer does nt reliably indicate a road’s condition - just its existence.
I should also note that my wife will never allow e to own a 4WD the way you would not want to give a loaded pistol to a monkey. I have little to no fear of road conditions.
Forest Road 68G - which will, actually, bounce you down to the Verde River from Dugas - is high clearance up to the edge of the mesa. I bounced and prodded the poor Cavalier that far in anyways - because that is how my mental disorder manifests. We stopped at the top of the mesa, because the switchbacks going down were CLEARLY 4WD. And my nerves were shot. And we were losing daylight. And this moment of clarity saved certainly both of our lives.
So you know, to continue on the Fossil Creek, you would have to ford the Verde River and drive through the Hot Springs campground to get back to FR 720.
So we camped at the top of Tule Mesa. My hammcok, strung from a huge juniper, swung in the wind as I had nightmares of rocks moving down a roadway in waves like an incoming tide. The wind picked even more, and I had to move into Ben’s tent.
The next morning, I worked the Cavalier slowly off the mesa, blowing two tires in the process. (Happily, one was just a slow leak). We ended up “backpacking” in a few miles from a spot north of Lake Pleasant.
Ben and I didn’t make it to Fossil Springs until we hkedt for the guidebook about a year ago.
In a few hours, though, we’re going back to Tule Mesa, because I now own a high clearance vehicle.
I left a ratchet strap in that Juniper. Ben wonders if its still there. We’ll let you know.
Not in the Tonto - but this is ostensibly a general hiking blog.
Bear Canyon Lake Campground is located in the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, near the eponymous lake (actually a reservoir) on top of the Mogollon Rim. It sits just east of center of the Forest Road 300.
No fee.
No host.
No water.
No trash service.
“Rustic” toilets (for some reason the Forest Service feels this to be a reasonable synoym for “vault/composting toilets”, which is a synonym for “pit with toilet seat over hole”.)
And no vehicular access to the lake. A sub parking lot will get you to a half mile switchbacking trail which leads to the lake. That’s a long haul with a canoe over your head, so we left the boats at home.
The “Shoreline Trail” goes from that point upstream, counter-clockwise, south, away from the dam about 1.5 miles. It’s a great little trail: no challenging grades, but enough rocks and other obstacles to keep you awake. A fine adventure for middle-school kids ( I had three in tow - though only Ben went the whole route with me). The pay off at the end is the lush meadow once you find your way across the stream that feeds the resevoir.
The second “Parking Lot” spur leads to a separate lot from the main one, closed most of the time, about a half mile further down the road. There’s also a good geocache along the trail - but be prepared for a short, strenuous bushwhack up the slope to find it.
Also, there is a good, short, unofficial trail following the stream on the far side of the dam. Keep aware for poison ivy, though. By short I mean about a quarter mile.
On weekends this area is popular with anglers, ATV riders, and gun enthusiasts, as there are relatively few restrictions on such activities in this part of the forest compared to the balance of the Rim. So expect a fair amount of noise and garbage.
Our high temp was 74, our low around 40. Good weather for June.
And I slept relatively comfortably in my hammock despite the cold by using an emergency bivy sack to line the bottom of the hammock, thus keeping the wind off my back as I slept. Good down to 40 - but I wouldn’t take it down to freezing.
I may update later with photo links.
Summer’s here - because the forest is on fire:
Summary: The Pioneer Fire started on Saturday, and is burning on East Mountain, approximately 7 miles south of Globe, Arizona. Burnout operations were conducted last night. Aerial resources will be assisting ground crews today in holding the line at Forest Service Road 112 near Pioneer Pass. Smoke is expected to be visible around the East Mountain area for next 5 days. The public is asked to please use caution on Hwy. 77 because of fire equipment and fire traffic.
This is not far from the Pinal Mountains (see last post). You can keep track of the progress here.
Presciently, the Globe area is scheduled for some prescribed burns this summer (though the big, unprescibed burn going on right now may modify their plans).
“The purpose of these prescribed fires is to reduce the hazardous fuels in these areas and lower the chances of catastrophic fire, which could burn onto private land and endanger valuable electronic sites and private property. The prescribed fires will also help promote a healthier forest and watershed,” said Rick Reitz, Globe District ranger.
In the Phoenix area? Got free time? Here’s the Arizona Game and Fish Online Calender. AZG&F is, of course, a statewide operation, and the calender does have events all over the state, but, basically, the bulk of them happen around Phoenix.
Try to follow this: Towards the end of the Clinton administration, a ruling came down declaring a moratorium on new road construction in the National Forests. Towards the end of the Bush administration, this ban was overturned. Did that lead to a frenzy in two-track road construction? No. Iy led to a flurry of legal action.
So the Obama administration, late last month, declared a moratorium on lifting the moratorium. This is from the Department of Agriculture’s press release:
The U.S. Forest Service, with jurisdiction over the National Forests and Grasslands, makes decisions about what projects can take place on those lands. In simultaneously upholding and overturning the 2001 Clinton roadless rule, the courts have created confusion and made it difficult for the U.S. Forest Service to do its job. The directive will ensure that USDA can carefully consider activities in these inventoried roadless areas while long term roadless policy is developed and relevant court cases move forward.
In related news, the adminstration has also released stimulus funds to -ah - build forest roads.
So, well, good luck with that.
Friday afternoon I had a chance to go kayaking with the Rhino Expeditionary Corps (a gang of co-workers that find adventure and peril recreational). We hit the water from the beach at Butcher Jones on Saguaro Lake.
While I’m a veteran canoer, this was only my second time in a kayak; in this case a little 6′ plastic thing I borrowed from Carolyn ( a regular companion in doing something stupid in the wilderness).
Our goal was a little island all the way on the far side of the bend from Butcher Jones, where the gang wanted to find a geocache. The island itself is a pile of rocks, and doesn’t lend itself to docking anything - but we found a way. What we never found, though, was the cache - which, given the size of the island (tiny) makes us think its been removed.
While they poked in every crevice on the island, I had to pee, so I paddled to a little cove on the shore, and picked my way over the rocks and cacti, behnd the reeds, and out of sight from the lake.
The javelina started bolting from the reeds in waves. There must have been more than 20 of them, some just wee-little. And I patiently waited as they all eventually scrambled up the far side of the ravine and off into the desert. What I did not need was to start watering a bush and then get charged by the alpha male.
All this time in the desert, and this was the first time I have found myself within encounter distance with javelina. Previously, I’ve only seen them from a great distance, or simply came across evidence of the recent passing.
There are two types of kayakers: those who have tipped over their kayak, and those who are going to. I remain in the latter group.
By GPS measurments, we covered 5.25 miles of water round trip. Took about 4 hours. We’re noodling on a multi-day expedition to Lake Powell (though I’d probably have to bring the canoe for that).
As fun as water-skiing looks (even when your little kayak is getting clobbered by speedboat wakes) I still prefer self-powered craft.
I didn’t take any pictures - but Genevieve did. Her facebook album here. (If ya don’t have FB - I think yer hosed).
The Tonto NF has announced fire restrictions from May 14th until, well, until the area gets serious rain.
The Prescott and Coconino NF’s have announced similar restictions starting tomorrow. Typically, these closures cover all the National Forests in the state by the beginning of June.
This is what that means, according to the press release:
Building, maintaining, attending or using a fire, campfire or charcoal-burning device is prohibited. Restrictions also apply to smoking outside of a cleared area, operating internal combustion power tools, using welding equipment or torches with open flames, operating combustion engines without spark- arresting devices in effective working order, or discharging firearms except in taking game in accordance with Arizona hunting laws. Use of petroleum-fueled stoves, lanterns, and heating devices are allowed, and some developed campgrounds are also exempted from these restrictions. (Please see attached list).
Note, however, that fires are still permitted within designated fire pits in established campgrounds.
There is considerable gray area regarding which sort of backpacking stoves are legal under fire restriction. I know that my trusty MSR Pocket Rocket IS legal, because, like most liquid-fuel stoves of this type, I can shut it off instantly by turning the valve. I also know that my little metal Hobo Stove is NOT legal, because even though the fire is wholly contained in the cylinder, I can’t just shut it off.
The grey area, then, consists of alcohol stoves, Sterno stoves, and solid fuel stoves. From experience, I know that the legality of these depend upon which ranger you talk to. So I called the front office.
According to Tonto NF Fire Supervisor Helen Graham, alcohol and sterno would be legal, so long as they can be immediately extiguished.
“The real spirit behind the restrictions is that it’s a fire you can put out immediately.” She explained.
So, as long as you have a lid handy that will snuff the flame, light-em up. Good news, since alcohol and sterno stoves (particularly well-made alcohol stoves) have excellent weight/cost/btu ratios.
Just don’t be the jack-ass who started the fire that prompted the FS to outlaw all backcountry stoves.
New thing: towards the end of every month, I’m going to digest news items relevant to the Tonto NF or Arizona hiking in general.
Fossil Springs is now open again. It has been for a month, but just sayin’ because now its warm enough to get to the TH without snow chains.
This is Wildfire Prevention Week, and according to the USFS press release:
BLM fire management specialist Ken Shaver observed, “There is some potential good news on the summer weather front. The predictive weather services people are forecasting a wet monsoon season this year. If our summer season is like it was last year, the wildfire season in Arizona could again be on the quiet side.”
Your tax money at work, clearing out deadwood.
Quoted from the above source:
The Hazardous Fuel Reduction project areas include:
The Southwestern Region expects more projects to be approved for funding over the next few months.
Even though the reservoirs are at high levels and streams are reportedly flowing throughout the Tonto, I’d still figure on fire restrictions this summer.
The sad saga of Macho B, the jaguar (yes-really-a jaguar) that AZ Game and Fish accidentally captured, collared, tracked, rescued and ultimately euthanized suspecting a fatal kidney disorder continues into the finger-pointing stage. You can follow the story at Macho B’s website.
Finally, for those interested, my proposal for a D&O Coconino National Forest has been after much consideration, declined by Menasha Ridge Press. It was, to be fair, among the last proposals to be cut. Everyone (that I talked to) liked the idea, they just couldn’t make the numbers work out.
A good freelancer, meaning one who can crank out readable copy on deadline, can expect a rejection rate of 11 out of 12 proposals. Mine runs a little better, but I write for beer money, and have the luxury of choosing my pitches with care. If this were my primary source of income, I’d be writing a proposal a day, and my rejection rate would be much closer to the industry norm (if not higher). If I take any of that personally, I’m done. Consideration for the writer’s supposed feelings noticeably declines at about $.10/word and is non-existent at national magazine rates.
My chief disappointment, then, is that it’s a lot easier to get out of my other obligations to go hiking when I have a guidebook in the works. So I am casting about for other ideas, and would value any input.
Meanwhile, the behind-the-hike series continues, for all of you 94+ people (and counting, I hope) who have bought a copy of my last excuse to get lost in the wilderness.