Started from the Reavis North TH with Dallin and Alex just before sunset. We hiked in to Reavis Ranch entirely by moonlight, no headlamps, which was a treat. Set up camp and enjoyed a chilly night at the Ranch. Jumped on the AZT in the morning. Reavis Gap is a nice trail. Love seeing pines in the Supes. Pine Creek was flowing well. We stopped here for a snack. Shortly after jumping on Two Bar Ridge, we ran into @ALMAL heading down for a solo night under the stars. Two Bar Ridge Trail offers great views and a couple of nice climbs. It warmed up during this sun exposed stretch. It was nice to be heading down into some shade upon reaching Cottonwood Trail. Started off kind of blah. An extensive network of cairns guides you through a dry creek bed and cattle country. Eventually things got green and shaded. I always enjoy Saguaros next to cottonwoods. Much more scenic than I anticipated. Wildflowers really came to life along here, as well. The road walk was even nice. Entire hillsides lit up with poppies. We cruised on down to Vineyard TH where my weekend ended and the fellas will continue on from. Great trip.

Wildflowers
A little of everything. Poppies steal the show.

I was kind of looking to see where I was at for another big trek this summer and Karl was looking to experiment with a lighter weight higher mileage backpack, so I proposed Picketpost Mountain, or the beginning of section 18 of the Arizona Trail to Pine and the end of section 26 of the Arizona Trail. Karl was down for four days and had a somewhat flexible plan for ending his trip when he needed to. Meanwhile, I was about 50-50 if I could do the entire hike and was content with just seeing how far Karl and I could get and then playing the rest of my trip by ear, or I should say by body.

Day 1: 29.92 miles 6268 aeg

We made it to our planned first night's campsite on day one, Walnut Spring. Section 18 really exceeded my expectations. This is about the best time of year to be walking though that desert right now and Whitford proved to be a real treat with the flowing water and abundance of green. The climb was grueling and relentless but it offered some very solid views of the area and was really made manageable by liberal use of switchbacks. Karl was so confident with our performance at that point in the day that he insisted we bag Montana Mountain while we were up there. I agreed, but only because I was born in Montana and I said it had to count it as our break. Reavis Ranch looked like Daytona Beech and I had not apprehensions about making the short trip past it to my cozy little campsite at Walnut Spring. Got to Walnut just at headlamp time. Blew through camp chores, made a fire, ate and got to bed as soon as we could.

Day 2: 25.67 miles 6392 aeg

We came up a little short on our proposed campsite on this day, but the hiking was great so no worries. No stranger to the Eastern Supes, but Sunday still offered me all new areas after Two Bar Ridge. Cottonwood Canyon was great! No shortage of water in there and some cool little sites in this random little riparian jungle in the far corners of the northwestern Supes. A little bit of road and then it was the traverse from hell along the 188 waiting for that damn bridge to come into sight. From the bridge it was up the stairway to heaven. Where fittingly we had a trail angel waiting for us with tons of snacks and H20. After our sugar, hops, and caffeine binge at Mills Ridge we decided to just push for Buckhorn Creek. However, on that side of Four Peaks, pushing for a few extra miles usually entails a nice chunk of aeg as well, so we earned it. I did find a set of Indian ruins though along the way, so that was cool. We were both excited to learn that after carrying all that fresh water from Mills Ridge, there was water flowing in Buckhorn Creek. Oh well no filtering to do, quicker camp set-up, quick fire and in bed even earlier than previous night.

Day 3: 31.24 miles 5239 aeg

Day three was all new ground for me. Four Peaks makes you work, but alas the beauty of nature is enhanced by the ardor of the journey. I really enjoyed this section, an instant new favorite! I hiked through perhaps one of my nicest sunrises in a long time and marked several rock pile sites along the trail for future exploring. This section just kept getting better for me as we neared Four Peaks and started contouring towards Pigeon Spring. The lingering and previous snow had some of the creeks flowing nicely along this stretch and the trail got very nice as we approached its end. The road felt a little like Mad Max with the amount of Jeeps, trucks and atvs out. However, I must say not one negative experience with any driver and I do not think I have been offered as much water in such a short amount of time as I was along that 11 mile stretch of road. One guy asked, "is there anything else I could give you?" I said I could use some sunscreen and he offered up the whole bottle. The hike down into Sycamore was also very nice, again a great time to be in the lowlands, a little water, some flowers and green. However, it was hard to appreciate at times with the fatigue and anxiety over coordinating a last minute drop off of some additional things I felt I needed, if I was going to have any chance of reaching Pine. The drop and pick went smooth, a small adventure, but relatively smooth. We did not get an ideal spot to camp, but spirits were high after our resupply.

Day 4: 24.7 miles 6297 aeg

This was the day Karl and I would be saying our goodbyes. Karl decided on a Peely exit and I would push on to Bear Spring from there. More new trail for me to start the day and again I was not disappointed. The canyons on the way up to Saddle Ridge were picturesque, there was a lot of water and signs of some pretty extensive trail work in spots. I will admit things got a little dicey after we left the quaint McFarland Spring area, but we endured. The trails definitely need some work in there. I found myself kind of embracing the ruggedness and challenge the area presented. However, I could see that area becoming another hiker's hell if they were not expecting it. Karl and I parted at Peely. Losing Karl sucked, as he and I had a good thing going the first few days. Karl was keeping our pace in the areas where I tend to day dream and I was doing what I could do to keep us at a respectable place for some of the more stout climbs. But no time to dwell, I was solo now and needed to reach Bear Spring, just another 2000 feet of aeg and a shade under ten miles. There is no sense harping on the point, but the Divide Trail is getting nasty along there and I did make it to Bear Spring before head lamp conditions, but I was obliterated from that last little push from Peely. I replaced Karl with another Carl at Bear Spring. I am going to assume he spells his with a C. Anyways, I ran into Carl, better known as Spiced Rum on HAZ. He was on the final night of a backpack to gather some information for future work in the area. We chatted it up for awhile and I am not ashamed to admit I took some extra snacks from him. He was leaving a day early and I could not believe the amount of food I was going through on these long days, so I had no problem taking the charity. Superb stuff too, some great dried fruit, trail-mix and a Rice Crispy treat. Good guy all around and a source of wealth on some other major trails that I am interested in. And what a nice little spot to camp near Bear Spring, that saddle is great, I see why toughboots is fond of the place.

Day 5: 26.9 miles 4051 aeg

This was my make or break day. I had my city creek trailhead bailout option if needed, or I was pushing for the East Verde via the dreaded Red Hills and making my final push for Pine from there. The divide trail has its ups and downs, both in terrain and condition, but overall it was pretty smooth going. There is a section of Divide Trail that is now immaculate from about the intersection with Brody Seep to the intersection with Barnhardt. Kudos to that trail crew. I stopped for way too long to soak my legs and filter water and then realized I was looking at about ten more miles to include the worst part of the Red Hills and it was nearly three. My rational side said, "set up camp here, hike out LF or Saddle Ridge tomorrow," however, my other side said, "quit making excuses and finish the original plan." I am not sure what it was, but I was really dreading the last half of the Red Hills. Out of paranoia of being too exhausted to complete the entire section and having to dry camp somewhere I carried way too much water. This weighed me down and annoyed me even more as several of the creeks and main valleys I crossed had running water in them. As it turned out, while my worries were warranted, I did just fine and to be honest felt the area did not seem as bad as it had before and I must give props to the horse(s) whose tracks I followed through the entire Red Hills section, a doable stretch, just may require more time and detail. Camped at the Verde where I was serenaded to sleep by cows, frogs, chickens, maybe peacocks, cats and perhaps even a species of monkey. A very lively river at night.

Day 6: 23.08 miles 4329 aeg

This was the one I was waiting for, the "easy" day. A nice early start, I don't think there is a better place to be in the world than a half hour before light in the mountains somewhere, just pure serenity. There were ankle breakers abound on this day of Whiterock and Hard Scrabble. A nice steady pace was all I tried to keep and I followed a liberal break plan, as I crawled into Pine. The final two sections were not my favorite, but they were also the last two sections of a 160 mile trek so they would have had to have been perfect to really capture my imagination. Nevertheless, I got through both of them and endured the lava rock tread and bland road. I did find the last few miles to be more redeeming with the scenic Oak Spring and Bradshaw tank area. It was a reunion at the trailhead with Jackie and the pups, Del Taco and then home.

Final Notes

I need to work on a better nutrition plan for these big ones. I simply did not bring enough caloric energy for the type of days I was doing and the amount of energy I was putting out. I need to go healthier and more efficient, just a good lesson to learn.

Karl played a huge role in getting me through those first four days, very glad to have him through there, he was missed later.

A good song to have stuck in your head while hiking is Passion Pit, "Take a Walk."

I can definitely go lighter on these ones too, I packed light, but by no means did I make any attempts to go ultra-light. In the future, that may be needed to knock out some of these more ambitious multi day treks.

The hardest days by far were Day four with its nearly 7000 feet gained and day five with its 27 legit miles through the Mazzies without as much as a foot of road relief until the very end.

Wildflowers
About normal to not so great, to really good in spots. Most action in the first few sections though.

Bridge to FR 341...so to finish our day of hiking, Shawn came up with the idea of hiking to FR 341 to cut into some miles of the AZT Passage 19. Smart thinkin' there. We finished off the very scenic southern portion (Vineyard Trail) of AZT Passage 20 and were now at the bridge. I was excited about walking across the bridge so pretty much filmed the entire walk. From there you go past the turn on the Apache Trail 88 and you soon see one of those nice Arizona Trail signs just off to the right.

It was starting to warm up a bit and of course, we had to tackle this hill up to a saddle. Fortunately and true to form, there were some nice switchbacks involved. From the saddle you are afforded some nice views of Roosevelt Lake and the bridge and mountains. We continued on our way and Shawn was doing his usual trail work when he went to kick off a rock only to quickly realize it was a gila monster ; not a very big one but just the same, we're glad he didn't give it a whack with that big old boot. Tracy and Ambika got some good pictures but mine were a big fail. However, it was cool to see a gila just like everyone else it seems lately.

Shortly after getting down into a valley Shawn finally got to use his saw so while he was doing that, we decided this was as good a place for a break as anywhere. Shawn completed the job of getting a tree off the trail. We then came upon a full trough that is unfortunately broken; missing pin. The water was very clear though not very cold. Now it was time to go up and around and via a mountainside where we finally came within view of the Manufactured Home Park, we'd had a passing glimpse earlier. So we started the seemingly endless up hike toward Tonto Jr. And it was a bit rocky here at times as well.

We encountered two thru hikers, they look beat, who wanted to know where they could get a hamburger as they thot the marina would be not too far from here. We weren't sure if the Marina had a restaurant. (After reviewing, it looks like the Marina does have a restaurant/store just to the other side of the highway below the manufactured home park.) I offered to take them if they wanted to hike back up to the vehicle with us but they continued on their way. I hope they were able to find what they were looking for which included a place to put their tent for the nite.

Finally we got sight of Tonto Jr and knew the beer and chips were moments away. We shuttled over to pick up Shawn's truck and then stopped for dinner at Big Daddy's. There seemed to be a shortage of help but eventually we got our pizza and were good to go for our drive back to the Valley. And if we ever get to the two-day BP of AZT #19, at least it is more manageable now in two days.

Yes, of course I have video and yes I know, the FR title is wrong on the video, sorry about that:
includes the walk across the bridge - [ youtube video ] ...
the last couple miles - [ youtube video ] ...

Unique weekend with the Temple Chai Mens' Club for Lag B'Omer and a מְדוּרָה at Windy Hill Campground. They wanted a hike so I chose this one from Superstition Wilderness Trails East by Carlson & Stewart page 102, We went first to the Roosevelt Lake Cemetery. Then up to Thompson Trail 121. The trail has some nice up and down - mostly up - with scree. At a pass about 1/2 way into the hike you can see the bridge. One hiker turned back to go to the Visitor Center and meet us later. From the pass you have a steep downhill. Great views. You hit a small clearing with a stock tank. Then a small uphill for great views of the Bridge. Then downhill to the metal gate. Two of our remaining 6 hikers seemed to be struggling, so instead of going back by the trail we crossed the road on AZ 88 and hiked the road back to the Visitor Center. Not much traffic today. I would have preferred going back on the trail but discretion is the better part of valor. Got everyone home safe & sound and not much worse for wear. My ego suffered a little bruise - I was looking back and checking on visuals on everyone when I was gravitationally challenged.

Lots of cacti flowering and lots of wildflowers today so my rating will probably be higher than most.

From Campsite 20 I followed the trail to a nice bench facing east where you can watch the sunrise if you wake up it odark30 (I was a little late). Then down some "stairs". I walked out through reeds to the lake. Saw some areas in the reeds where mule deer must have bedded down. Either mule deer or some really large redneck beer drinkers. Touched the Roosevelt Lake Water and headed back up to wake my fellow campers #slackers

Joel wanted to head to Roosevelt Lake to try and take advantage of the stormy day and get some good photos, and I decided to tag along because there are few days that I can enjoy weather as cool as we had on Wednesday (High of 82 in July!?)

I quickly looked at HAZ to see what there was along the lake and figured that an out-and-back on the Thompson Trail would suffice. An easy 5- or 6-mile trip should keep me occupied for a couple of hours.

Preston's GPS track looked straightforward, and easy to follow, so I didn't print a map or anything. I brought my GPS, and my phone had reception most of the time, but I didn't really look at it until I realized I had done something wrong!

Driving by on the highway I had seen a clearly marked sign for the Frazier Trailhead right next to an electrical substation. I just pulled into the lot and got packed up. Glanced at the map quickly and headed out. It wasn't until I reached the junction with the AZT/FR341 at Cottonwood Creek that I realized that I had not started the same place that Preston had started. Oh well, I just kept going. The weather was perfect, cloudy, cool, a nice breeze.... only the overwhelming scent of fresh cowpies detracted me.

Eventually, I began to get impatient because I was planning on a 2.5 mile hike, and I hadn't looked at my GPS but it sure felt like I had been hiking a lot longer than 2.5 miles! The trail meanders up and down parallel canyons, and it just seemed like this was the most indirect, inefficient route to get to the bridge. Finally it came into view, it was beginning to get dark and I pre-decided that my return trip would be on the highway--a much more direct route.

Just before getting to the bridge, I was startled by the familiar sound of a western diamondback rattlesnake. He was definitely on guard because he was right next to the trail, but at least 15 feet ahead of me. He was coiled and ready in strike mode. I got as close as I dared and snapped a couple of photos before backing down the trail to give him a chance to move. He didn't. I threw some small rocks down the trail, but he was staying put. I looked around and noticed the trail switchbacked up ahead, so I decided to just cut the switchback. He slowed his rattle, but didn't stop until I was 30 feet away!

Getting to the highway just short of the 5-mile mark, I cruised the 2+ miles back to the trailhead, and headed down to the lake in time for nature's fireworks show in the sky.

Nothing too exciting about the trail(s). I certainly wouldn't make it a destination, but if you're ever out at the lake for another reason, it's a perfectly interesting way to spend a couple of hours.

i wondered if i would ever get this segment done, the difficulty coupled with the logistical nightmare. i threw out a pm to some HAZers i though may be interested and when the smoke cleared one crazy man (john...aka JJiii) was in with me and Wally had GRACIOUSLY volunteered to pick us up and take us back to the southern TH.

i met john early at queen valley and 60. we dumped my car and took off to roger's trough. i made it about 5-6 miles before becoming so car sick/dizzy i couldn't stand it. another mile or two and that was it. i was driving. i think john felt bad about his driving until i had to pull over 2 more times...yes my OWN driving was even making me sick.

after that little debacle we started hiking at about 6:15 and all was soon forgotten as the total awesomeness of the hike set in. all new territory for me, i was enthralled the whole way to reavis ranch by the green mountains and especially the pines! wow!! reavis ranch was even more awesome than i thought it would be.

the reavis gap trail was another total surprise and by now john and i were in la-la land, oohing and ahhing at everything we saw. we were also making good time and feeling great. the two bar ridge trail was next, and in a lot of ways the highlight of the hike for me. magnificent views, tough climbing, flowers...just incredible the whole way. we took our only short break at the trail head for two bar, at the little cement trough, before continuing down the road to cottonwood. this trail was way different from everything before it, and we freaked out as we entered the creek with all the greenery and wild strawberries. we hit the road and all it's blooming hedgehogs next. back to making good time i soon got a text from wally and knew he was there. we cruised it down to the thompson trail. the ups and downs on this last part kicked me in the butt a little but overall i still felt pretty darn good coming down the stretch. the final walk over the bridge was a fitting end to and epic day. true to his word, good old Frack was waiting at the vineyard TH. we chowed at Chalos in Miami.

Along the way john and i managed to make good friends with 6 of the most well behaved horses in the world, saw the hugest gila monster of all time, fell in creeks and walked into countless cacti

thanks again for joining me john. certainly look forward to more. super dooper thanks again Wally for the ride. It will NOT be forgotten

2:30am 4832ft (0mi) With zero sleep and nearly a week hiatus from a fever/cold the adventure began. Paul shuttled us to Roger's Trough and we were off like a herd of a turtles.

3:11am 4366ft (1.55mi) We dropped 466ft to the right turn and continuation of #109 out of Rogers Canyon.

3:58am 5324ft (3.52mi) Topped out on Reavis Saddle gaining 958 ft

5:37am 4801ft (7.53mi) Pumped water at Reavis Creek on the Reavis Gap Trail. As we were finishing up we saw a headlamp coming through the field.

6:22am 5282ft (8.59mi) Gained the 481ft to the saddle and continued

7:07am 4634ft (10.0mi) Crossed Pine Creek, light flow

7:30am 4755ft (10.87mi) On to the Two Bar Ridge Trail 119

7:44am 4558ft (11.4mi) Walnut Spring, dry

8:41am 3974ft (12.81mi) Down in the ravine behind Two Bar Mountain

9:17am 4848ft (13.8mi) Attained Two Bar Ridge (actual ridge)

10:14am 4808ft (15.7mi) Took a 45min lunch break just west of 5,004. Incredible views all around, excellent weather.

11:31am 4319ft (16.86mi) Last low point before final climb

Noon 4948ft (17.75mi) On the southern flank of Pinyon Mountain before the big drop

1:00pm 3763ft (20.28mi) Basically passed out from lack of sleep, took 18min nap before "discovering" Cottonwood Creek

2:45pm 2792ft (23.48mi) Emerged from Willy Wonka's Cottonwood Creek. Even though I was sick in about three different ways this was an enjoyable low-key canyon.

3:24pm 2326ft (25.32mi) Pumped a much needed quart at the lowest Cottonwood Creek crossing, ten minutes w/very short nap

5:03pm 2353ft (29.46mi) Finished AZT #19. We have now have hiked from the Gila River to Shultz Pass.

Bruce treated at Chalo's in Globe, most excellent. Plenty of water pumping options throughout this hike. Only saw two tiny wildflowers. One more interesting than the other had a single yellow lower tiny calypso/betony type petal with a heavier yellow center.

Conversation with Co-workers before the Hike.
"So where are you going this week?" I'm hiking from the top of the Superstitions, down to Roosevelt Lake. Well, at least you are going downhill this time! (How do you explain to non-hikers that you'll have to climb 6,000', to go down 3,000'?). So what time are you leaving? I'm leaving the house at 10:30 to start hiking around 2:30 and going about 30 miles. 30 miles! Won't you be finishing in the dark. No, you don't understand, I'm leaving at 10:30pm and finishing when it's light out. Holly crap, and you call this fun!" Me ==>

This was one that's been on the radar for awhile, just trying to figure out the logistics was a nightmare. Luckily, Denny has some really nice family members. Denny dropped off his car at the northern vineyard TH the day before. So that part was set. Denny then sweet talked his brother in law into meeting us at 1:15am and taking us to the Rogers TH. Man..... did this set up save us about 4-5 hrs in setting up the shuttle. I'll be eternally grateful for the ride to Rogers. THANKS Paul!!!!

So now it's 2:30 in the morning, we have 30 miles ahead of us, the weatherman is calling for heavy rain, turning to snow, hopefully not starting until after 5pm, and I flashback to my co-workers comments, questioning my sanity. We start.

The first four hours were in the dark. I'd done the Reavis 109 S to Reavis ranch before, so I was not too upset at missing the views. We took a brief stop at the ranch so I could change the batteries on my headlamp. Crap... I guess I'm hiking with a dim headlamp until daybreak. On our way to to pump water from the creek, Joe noticed a couple of campers. Denny focused his headlamp on the campers, which turned out to be a couple of Whitetail! As we were leaving the creek from pumping water, we saw a headlamp about 150yds behind us. What idiot is going to be in the Superstition Wilderness at 5am (besides us of course). We never found out who it was.

Daylight broke to a sweet sunrise with broken clouds. Maybe we'll get lucky today and miss the rain. The views from all over today were incredible! The temps for the most part were perfect for the day. The winds blew pretty hard at times, which if you were sitting, got a bit chilly... but no big whoop.

The Cottonwood Creek Trail area is one I'd like to go back and check on again. A nice mix of Streams, small waterfalls, nice rock formations, Cottonwoods (duh), Saguaros (really?), Wild Strawberry plants, vines. All in the middle of the desert!

There were times I thought the climbs on day would never end. The best view on the day for me, was when the Bridge by the Roosevelt Dam appeared over one of the last ridges. Yea!

This was probably the toughest of the 19 passages completed so far once you add in the time of day, lack of sleep, miles, and elevation. I'm glad it's done, and real glad we've finally completed it.

The day was finished with a most excellent meal at Chalo's in Globe!

Thanks to Dave, Denny, and Joe for another Great day on the AZT!

Our current AZT Status
19 Passages
360 miles
65,000 AEG Completed

With family in town from PA, I ditched my Sierra Ancha plans, met them in Globe, then decided to do this shorty that I had been interested in for awhile. I went to drive up FR 341 from HWY 188, but said screw this after starting up it (time consuming). So I parked at Cemetery TH and biked it to the west TH. Had a vigorous hike in beautiful desert overlooking Roosevelt. I hiked to the east end of the trail, then turned around and took the Cemetery Trail back to my truck. Retrieved my bike then hauled anus back to Safford for the office Christmas party. A bit hectic, but it was a nice hike.