I guess we are all guilty of not adequately preparing for a loner hike. In my case, if I hike alone (maybe 50% of the time) I always stay on the trail (no bushwhacking), and on trails which on weekends are ususally well travelled (e.g. Barnhardt Trail, Peralta, etc.). Expereince has taught me to car...

Hey put me down for six or so. Wanna give two to HAZer Bill Baily.

It was two years ago when I chanced upon the gravesite during a day hike. I became intrigued by the mystery of it. Who is Davey Gowan, and why was he buried in the upper reaches of Deer Creek? Who maintained the gravesite? It became a challenge and lead to a search of the history of it. I checked wi...

Was on the Deer Creek (as oposed to the South Fork of Deer Creek) recently and the trail is as open as it always has been. I enjoy the Deer Creek Trail for a nice day hike 'cause it winds through a ranch early on with interesting water works, and after about two miles it comes upon the grave of &quo...

Word has it that you are on the mend, and hiking again after being, shall we say, indisposed for some time for health reasons. Nothing like a hike to get one healthy again. I hope that this is the path to full recovery. The Grand Canyon wouldn't be the same without you. Congratulations to a HAZer, a...

Yeah, tell us where you will be staying, and then we can recomend some of the trails detailed in the Trail Index. There are lots of trails no matter where you will be staying.

Thanks Mary,

Hope that your are well, and will be hitting the trail again soon, big time. Regards to Robert.

By the way, Singapore is 15 hours ahead of AZ, so it is already 11:00 am Monday morning, even as I type, while it is still Sunday night in Flagstaff.

Feliz Sanderas amiga mia.

Absolutely without doubt the best place for ruins and petroglyphs is Bloody Basin...there are gazilions of them (petroglyphs that is), and some huge ruins, some with 300 rooms. You can geet a map and write-up from the Tonto National Forest HQ on MCDowell Road. Don't forget, LNT. The more that place ...

Thanks Neal amigo, Surprised that you know about dim sum and potstickers, you being the acknowledged chili king of Arizona, with your "Spent Fuel Rod Chili" formula, an' all. If'n you want good dim sum, try the Chinese place called C-Fu on the SW corner of Dobson and Warner Roads. This pos...

Howdy Y'all, Been in Hong Kong for a week now on a business trip, and did some awsome hikes in the hills around Hong Kong Island last weekend. The hills are about 1,000 feet or so high, straight up from sea level!, and there are many of them. The Brits did a good job in building and maintaining hiki...

Abe, I agreed with your comments but came to a screeching halt when you included dope as "not hurting others". Nope, I do not agee. When one purchases drugs, even for personal consumption, one sets into motion a sequence of events which hurts a lot of people with ruined lives and destroys ...

Thanks MaryPhyl, I found the lineage all the way to your mother in the Babbitt family tree. Great stuff. There is a picture of your grandfather Joe Babbitt in military uniform in 1918. The book is entitled "Cities of Gold" , by Douglas Preston, wherein he relates how he and another compani...

Since we're talking reading, and things Arizona, here's one: The Lazy B by Sandra Day O'Connor Arizona's very own Justice describes being brought up on a ranch which has been in her family for over a 100 years, and straddled the Arizona and New Mexico border. I use the past tense straddled, because ...

Ok MaryPhyl, I am looking at the Babbitt family tree even as I type. I found David & Emma. What a photo! David had great mutton chop sideburns, befitting the age, and Emma was a real looker. They had six children. Which one is your grandparent, and what is your mothers name? This gettin' to be r...

Count me in guys. ANY excuse to get back on the trails, even as trash picker upper. LOL

"Brothers Five, the Babbitts of Arizona" by Dean Smith is the complete title of the book, and I purchased it from the Guidon Bookstore on Main Street in Scottsdale (next to Malee's Restaurant) in the Old Scottsdale Arts District. The book (both in hardcover and paperback) was published by...

Hey, I gotta rant.

I'm sick of PC, Benson in the Arizona People's Daily, and the whinin' , hanky wringing, illegal alien supporting, Pimentel of the same rag.

Ya think it's time to hit the trail, hmmmm? Sheesh, I'm getting cabin fever....ain't been on the trail for months. Can't wait for the Fall.

"Brothers Five" by Dean Smith. It is about the Babbitt brothers of Flagstaff, and their tremendous impact on Arizona. A truly remarkable biography of five brothers from Cincinnati who in 1886 stepped off the train in Flagstaff when it was nothing but an army outpost 'cause their money ran...

Although I am not allergic to bee stings (I think), encountering an angry swarm of Africanized killer bees is my greatest fear when I hike alone. Not snakes, not bears nor any other critter. Them bees are mean, aggressive, and do serious damage. Just look what they did to that guy last Friday who en...

Nice hiking gear Crymzon!