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Hiking | 8.60 Miles |
2,438 AEG |
| Hiking | 8.60 Miles | 6 Hrs 5 Mns | | 1.41 mph |
2,438 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | On 6/24/06 I did my very first hike in the Sierra Ancha Wilderness. Topohiker and I hiked in from Workman's Creek Rd to the Carr TH to hike part-of Parker Creek TR#150 and Rim TR#139.
Today, 2 years and 9 months later, now having completed this Grapevine Trail, I can now say that I have completed ALL the official, published trails (13 total) in this Tonto Natl Forest- Sierra Ancha Wilderness . This day is definitely a day of reflection with so many very special & challenging moments in this remote & rugged wilderness area, many long day and nights day hiking and arriving back home late at night and also due to the driving distances from the Phoenix area, a lot of $20. bills+ expended for gas money. Some of these 13 trails required as many as 3 seperate trips to access & complete the entire trail lengths.
This last Grapevine Trail was a tough one to schedule since it is a very long drive to reach from the Phoenix area(4hrs one way) and is situated such that there is a narrow window for finding the best time to hike it. It is located in the upper north end of the wilderness area 9 rough miles down 4x4 Cherry Creek RD's(FR203) north end. Depending on the time of year, the TH access is either too cold(with ice & snow on FR203 access at Board Tree Saddle 5900'elev.) or just too hot the seasonal temps to hike. This trail also sees very little hiking activity and thus "the trail" (80-90% old mining road access) is now very overgrown with nasty manzanita, some catclaw, lots of scrub oak, with some needed route finding and downed trees to negotiate. It is also a trail that probably offers as much scenic enjoyment by just driving the parallel distance on Cherry Creek Road. I feel my picture set of this hike offered more enjoyment than did the actual hike. The good company Ken and I had join us with HAZ- Natalie Robb and her two friendly pups-Dakota and Hector helped make the long day more worthwhile. Fitting I guess that this last trail should have been the very last one for me to have completed hiking in this Sierra Ancha Wilderness, but yet still another amAZing day!  |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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(Outside.. "there is No Place Like It!!") |
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