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| Hiking | 4.50 Miles |
906 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.50 Miles | 2 Hrs 6 Mns | | 2.23 mph |
| 906 ft AEG | 5 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Part Two of a recon hike to plan for a future hike up to Brown's Peak and back.
Rather than do an out-and-back along Soldier Camp Trail #83 I decided to return via Cane Spring Trail #77 south to Forest Road 401A and west back to the Soldier Camp TH. Although I spent some time scanning for any sign of the trail from the junction with Trail #83 but found nothing so I just set out generally following a track I drew in Route Manager. It was a quarter mile out before I spotted the first cairn and another quarter mile before I could actually see two cairns at the same time.
With the cairns few and far between I relied quite a bit on my GPS track. About a mile south of Soldier Camp Trail the cairns became plentiful, but by now the trail was well-beaten enough (likely more by animal than humans) there was no longer a need for them. And similar to certain sections of Soldier Camp Trail, this part of the Cane Spring Trail used to be an old wagon trail way back when. The farther south I traveled the easier it was to follow the trail... note I said easier to follow, not easier to hike on, as it was quite rough with plenty of loose rocks hidden in the grass.
Also like part one of this hike (on Soldier Camp Trail) I trimmed a few spots where one would be forced to leave the trail to bypass overgrowth, but I did leave a few that would have required a lopper rather than the hand trimmer I had along.
Once I hit the junction with Forest Road 401A it was just a matter of following the road, such as it is back to the Soldier Camp TH. Although no route finding was needed, due to the loose rocks on the road I had to pay attention with every step. When I was within .3 mile of the trailhead, by following the road I still had 3/4 mile left and I was sorely tempted to make a beeline cross-country to save the distance, but I knew it would probably just as long and take more effort so I stuck with the road.
Having a tire with a slow leak I wasted little time on the rough FR401A so I could get back to town in time to get it checked out before a weekend camping trip. It turns out the bullet-proof Kevlar sidewall isn't thorn-proof and wouldn't you know it, as a legacy of being the nice guy pulling trees off the road last week I picked up a thorn in the sidewall.
](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall")
Of course it's where they will not repair it so the tire had to be replaced. Although the warranty gave me a free tire, it cost $52 to continue the warranty on the replacement tire.
Oh well, it's better than replacing it at $350.
The triplog of Part One of this hike along Soldier Camp Trail #83 is here:
http://hikearizona.com/trip=95744
I posted 25 of the Cane Spring photos on HAZ.
All 110 photos (including the Soldier Camp Trail photos) are here:
http://changephoenix.com/jpserver/web/public/album.php?id=633 |
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