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| Hiking | 5.26 Miles |
2,794 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.26 Miles | 3 Hrs 9 Mns | | 1.81 mph |
| 2,794 ft AEG | 15 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Part one of a recon hike to plan for a future hike all the way to Brown's Peak and back.
I took FR401 from AZ87 to Cottonwood Camp then drove the 4 very rough miles on FR401A to Soldier Camp TH. When I got out of the car I was greeted by winds easily in excess of 45-50 mph. Almost knocked over immediately I turned back and grabbed both hiking poles for stability. Good thing I did because on a number of occasions there were wind gusts well over 60 mph, and in fact even with the hiking poles I was twice knocked to my knees. I took many photos more than once due to bad focus being knocked around. I have a few videos to edit yet but they will show the extent of the wind.
Ok, back to the hike. Although there were no cairns to mark the trail for the first half mile or so, it was pretty easy to follow the narrow trail. Soon you reach a point where the trail starts following what used to be a wagon trail well over a hundred years ago. With 10 to 12 feet somewhat level between rocks on either side for most of the hike there was little need to seek out cairns, although by now there were plenty popping up. Once I reached a part with thicker brush the cairns weren't visible from very far away but I passed by they were helpful to let me know I was still on the trail.
Upon reaching the Cane Spring Trail #77 junction I took a short PB&J break while seeking the Cane Spring Trail. No luck locating any cairns heading south. Oh well, I've got some extra time to I headed farther out along trail #83. About a half mile I was about to turn around when I noticed a Laub Mine on my GPS basemap. Just a few hundred yards away I just had to see if there was anything of interest. All I found were numerous large bowls cut out of the mountain but not one single bit of mining equipment. If there were any shafts, they were covered or filled in long ago.
While scanning the area, I noticed what appeared to be a horizontal mine shaft across the canyon from me. It took a while to locate a route avoiding both the steep drop-offs and heavy brush but I managed choosing some thorny brush over a 30 foot drop. Approaching the mine I looked around for evidence of animals and finding none decided to film my exploration. Barely inside and I'm swarmed by thousands of flies so my first thought is there's a dead animal in here. It wound around one corner and maybe 40 feet in I hit the dead end, and thankfully, no dead critters.
Ok, time to head back to catch the Cane Spring Trail down to Forest Road 401A and the 2 mile climb back to Soldier Camp TH.
I thinned to photoset to 40 photos on HAZ.
All 110 photos (including the Cane Spring Trail photos) are here:
http://changephoenix.com/jpserver/web/public/album.php?id=633
I'll post Part Two, Cane Spring Trail shortly. |
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Route Editor
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