Time to do a little hike with the Arizona Trail Volunteer Coordinator so I drove down Sat nite where I camped at Wendy's house. We were going to do a backpack but you know.... the temps were just a bit nippy.

I had done the usual Rx including drive time to the Trailheads. Somehow I messed up on the Oak Canyon TH so it took us two tries to finally get there. The canyon is aptly named.

We finally got going about 45 minutes or so later than planned. So up the hill you go until you have a visual north all the way to the Rincons. There is a great ridgeline (includes Weigles and Harts Butte) off to the left (west) which is in our sight for quite a bit. And many times if you look back, you got to see the sun highlighting the snow topped Mount Wrightson, Santa Ritas which we took many pics of when we would get atop a rise.

Almost immediately you are hit with the sound of gunfire. This would annoy us for several miles off and on in the first 9 miles or so. And then there was the sound of a canon going off... you know, a KABOOM. It went off 4 times every twenty minutes. Wendy had mentioned that they were thinking of putting up some sort of signage to alert the shooters (there were three areas where the gunfire was coming from) where the Arizona Trail is so that they could be careful not to shoot in that direction.

We crossed several roads and thru several gates and thru several little canyons including McCleary, Scholefield, Papago and Mulberry (which we think should be named hackberry for some of those giant trees in the canyon), some with a little running water. There were two hill climbs but nothing bad. The infuriating thing with the AZT is it seems like there are so many times when you go opposite the direction you're heading. It makes for a nice grade but sheesh; all the extra mileage. We did pass by the Hidden Valley Ranch (not so hidden with all those solar panels).

Professor Lotze covered some flora lessons with me, mostly about acacia trees. The flora was constantly changing but the star today was the many ocotillos on the some of the hillsides near and far. I love the golden grass as well and of course some of the cactus are huge here in southern Arizona. The weather was windy most of the day and there were many times when we would have liked Mr. Sun to join us but he preferred to be hidden. However, making up for its absence were some pretty cool-looking clouds off and on. The views to the east are fabulous as well including the Empires, Whetstones, Mustangs; we could see as far as the snow-capped Huachucas.

The trail for the most part is in great condition and we could see where there had been recent work on it both the tread and trimming. However, there were two slippery sections that could use some work and a couple areas where the invasive plants need to be grubbed out. There was also one downed tree, an oak. I did like the hilly part rather than it being totally flat.

We saw one bike rider, one backpacker (Zimmerman TH to Patagonia), one hunter, two day hikers and a few cattle. As usual, the last couple miles take forever but we finally made it to the carsonite and hiked the road to Tonto Jr who was holding our beers and snack. We shuttled back to Tamale and drove this slightly challenging road back to the highway. We really enjoyed Passage Six of the Arizona Trail.

Pictures are done, movies in production. March 14
to about mile 3 1/3 [ youtube video ]
3 1/3 - 5 1/2 miles [ youtube video ]
5 1/2 to almost 8 miles [ youtube video ]
8 - 10 1/2 [ youtube video ]
from 10 1/2 and Oak Canyon [ youtube video ]

i guess it's time to start cranking out what azt sections i can solo, as out and backs. been trying to time my availability and the weather for this one. thought i had it nailed today...except for the nonstop maelstrom winds all pumpkin day

hit the trail right as the sun was rising and started off pretty cold. warmed up enough pretty quickly and was on my way. a charming segment with more classic southern AZ rolling hills and long views. kinda of a roller coaster of ups and downs kept my attention. excellent trail build and maintenance with no route finding issues at all. took a short break at northern TH for about 20 minutes, hit the B's and blasted out like a raging pumpkin. about 4.5 miles and two sizable climbs from the end, the weather turned (even more) quite crappy (dark skies, big temp drop, etc) so i hit the jets and brought it home fast. started raining, albeit briefly, about 10 minutes after i got back to my ride. that woulda been pumpkin COLD.

this segment bridged the gap between the border and freeman road.

2 deer and 1 jack rabbit were the only lifeforms i saw all day

Set out with the Wu Tang Clan Posse. Good to be out on the Arizona Trail after our longest delay. Hiking is like a box of chocolates. We had that piece today that sometimes you just want to put back in the tray. Gramps was singing ICP(acting like a fool as usual). Denny was in prime. Father Dave tried to burn our ears off with music(I use the word lightly) almost as bad as Tibber's Bolton So all wasn't bad... or was... ah never mind

Ocotillos along this segment are world class thick! Really the only remarkable element of the journey. I may have been a tad grumpy with zero sleep feeling like JuLizzyAchaos. I did manage to sneak in an hour sleep while Denny conversed about Voodoo Economics. The temps are arising too so this would probably be more enjoyable in March.

On a truly positive note... The trail is in excellent condition. Appeared someone raked it a quarter mile ahead of us the entire way. No twigs or scratchies on this segment either. Big kudos to the team(s) that worked it

The highlight of the day may have been looking for Scholefield Spring in the most unlikely terrain. No luck, didn't expect much, yet still curious. Also saw one or two sego type wildflowers.

Thanks to all!

Not one of the more scenic routes...and the drive was longer than the hike. There were LOTS of ocotillo which was cool, as well as prickly pear and mesquite. Wildlife was limited to a rabbit, a lizard, and a couple of birds overhead. Got a bit warm, even for being around 4000-5000 feet, but not too bad.

What the trip was missing in scenery it made of for with colorful characters, including a biker who cussed worse than a sailor. He was part of a group in a competition biking some or all of the AZT (he said he was going to bike it in 14 days?!), and fellow hiking partners who were full of puns and badly sung songs. Lots of good times. We topped it off in the end with the hit song Chacarron in the car ride back...what? Haven't heard of it you say? Check it out if you need a laugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED_pU2oDnug

Nothing better than watching the four of us act like idiots, trying to sing and dance to this stupid song as it's blasting in a Civic cruising down AZ83.

Despite some reports I have read from prior people out on this segment, it's as good as complete. Some reports that the end wasn't complete, but the whole thing was about the easiest to follow segment of all that we've done.

Warning however for the trailhead for the north part of 6 / south part of 7, the road is NASTY in spots, particularly just before you get to the trailhead junction. We slowly drove most of it, but the last 0.2 miles we just walked it. High clearance needed to get all the way to the trailhead here.

Thanks guys, for even making a boring segment fun!

After a long layoff from the AZT, the four of us were itching to get back to it.

We were under time constraints, needing to be back in the Valley by 5pm today, so we made the long drive down to do a littler jaunt.

Note to those doing this hike, the Northern TH is NOT accessible with a car. We were able to get within about .2 mile, so that was close enough for us and we hiked the rest.

This was probably my least favorite of all the passages we have done so far. The highlight of this trip was the forests of Ocotillo cactus. It was the highest concentration of them I have seen on a hike. A good sign for cave hunters.

Without a doubt, this was the easiest passage to follow, and in the best shape.

The trail is finished after the gate leaving the Coronado National forest. All other GPS tracks on site, prior to the one I will file, show the old temporary route. My mileage posted for this trip includes some "Extra" hiking. I will clean up my track and post the official route when I get a chance. AEG out of DemSync was 1,836'. I'm using AEG from TOPO! 1,367'

Denny/Dave thanks for driving.... Missed you on this one Nick.