Oak Trail #16 Sunday July 25

[DarthStiller]

I'm going to do this hike mostly as described in tonyp's book from the Pine TH up past Hardscrabble Road. On my Tonto NF map, it looks like there's another section of trail past that about a mile or so long that takes you up to the rim. Mileage looks like it will probably be in the 11-12 range, that last section of trail looks to be the most interesting section of the hike. I think this might also be a section of the AZT. Leaving Mesa at 5:30am.

[DarthStiller]

do not hike with me in June

Didn't you take the long way up to Devil's Chasm last January?

[joebartels]

Yeah, it was fun
Looks like I'm in on this one

[DarthStiller]

[Tough_Boots]

Sounds like Joe and Stiller have some unfinished business. Should we do a man only camping trip and howl around the fire together?

@nonot

We'll have the answer soon enough!

[JimmyLyding]

Bruce, Joe, and Stiller all on one trip. I hope Mr. Tough Boots isn't easily offended. I'm still wavering on this one. Pine Canyon and and stuff along the Highline has really caught my interest

[joebartels]

Take the plunge and commit.

Would also be nice if some of the few-dozen summer dodgers would join in too! Remember it's not hot, it's toasy ;)

[JimmyLyding]

I probably won't know until after I do whatever hike I do on Friday.

[Tough_Boots]

I hope Mr. Tough Boots isn't easily offended.

They can try but no one's succeeded yet...

[The_Eagle]

I hope Mr. Tough Boots isn't easily offended.

They can try but no one's succeeded yet...

That almost sounds like a challenge

[Tough_Boots]

Alright guys. I found some info on trail 15. Its called the Strawberry-Pine Trail and it's five miles each way-- so it sound like we're doing a 20 mile day. This trail is found on this mountain biking loop description:

http://books.google.com/books?id=VgCZ5P ... 15&f=false

[hikeaz]

Chris,
Undoubtedly you will stop at the Rimside Grill for after-hike sustenance.... Would you maybe have the inclination to drop off my water jug there for me to pick up, please?
Also, there's a cool guy, Jim, living at the Pine T/H - If you see him let him know that Kurt said 'Hi' if you remember. Appreciate it. No biggie if either/both are left undone.

It's 3 miles from the Pine T/H to Oak Springs - Take your 'paw-prints-of-Arizona' book with you and look in the mud around the spring.
I've not been on the northern parts of this trail, but if the northern terminus is in/near Strawberry, you'll need to cross at least some of Pine Mt.. If the T/H is out Fossil Creek Rd. aways you'd avoid that climb. (Ha - like any of y'all would avoid a climb)
Have a great hike!

[DarthStiller]

@Tough_Boots

I don't think that description is taking this last section of the trail into account. The section I want to do is north and east of 87 and goes right up to the Rim. My Tonto NF map shows that once it gets up there, it turns into a road. I was just thinking of taking the trail up to the Rim and/or road and turn back from there, depending on how far we've hiked, how long it's taken, and how bloody we are. My upper limit for a hike is about 16-18 miles anyway, so once we get to the 8-9 mile mark, I'm gonna be inclined to pack it in.

@hikeaz

I'll be hoofing it back to Mesa ASAP after we finish to have dinner and spent whatever is left of the day with my family. I would be happy to drop off your jug, though. Who do I leave it with? Or do I just hide it somewhere only you can find it? I need to go and find it before Sunday. It sat in my garage for about 2 years and I forget where it got stashed.


I've hiked the section downhill from FR428 to Oak Springs before, so I have a track of that trail in my GPS. my topo also shows the trail from the Pine TH to Oak Springs and this elusive section of trail northeast of 87 to the Rim. the only part I don't have is the section north of FR428 and south of 87. This appears to be between Strawberry Mtn and Pine, so it should be easy to tell if we're where we need to be.

[Tough_Boots]

My upper limit for a hike is about 16-18 miles anyway, so once we get to the 8-9 mile mark, I'm gonna be inclined to pack it in.

I'm down with whatever.

[hikeaz]

@Tough_Boots I would be happy to drop off your jug, though. Who do I leave it with?

Thanks Chris - if it's MIA & it's a big deal to find don't pull a hammy trying to find it.
But if you DO....Re. Rimside - Tamara or Vanessa will both be there, so either one of them would be fine. Or, worst case, merely give it to whoever is hostessing & ask her to put it behind the hostess stand & i'll get it when I'm by next.
Beware of evil ADOT/Fann Construction Co. delays on 87.

[DarthStiller]

@hikeaz

Should I just say "I'm leaving this for Kurt."?

Where is the delay at on 87? Is it where the earth shifted last year?

[joebartels]

Didn't affect us last weekend, it's probably during the week. Just say you're leaving it for Steve's friend Kurt, though I wouldn't doubt if everybody in Pine knows Kurt...lol

[hikeaz]

@hikeaz

1) Should I just say "I'm leaving this for Kurt."?

2)Where is the delay at on 87? Is it where the earth shifted last year?

1) yes please

2)This past week it was right in front of Rimside - you know, the whole 'pilot car' snafu set-up - the waits were 35+ minutes to go 2 miles. There are NO bypasses either (stinkin' sheffic-gal was even ticketing folks who tried the neighborhood streets to get aroud the mess). They may cease on the weekends - but were there 7AM-10PM Monday.

More on your trip..... maybe hike DOWNhill if you're in a hurry...........


"The top of this trail starts at a forest road gate north of Strawberry about 5 miles, off US87. I didn't take note of the nearest mileage marker, but it's not too hard to find with a map. The jeep trail drops off the rim, winds around a deep, canyon-like drainage, circles around Fuller Spring, and ends at US87 just outside Strawberry. Fantastically fun bit of forgotten road; given the really intricate, beautifully built retaining walls along the way, I believe this was the original wagon road up the rim out of Strawberry. Today it's loose, rough as hell and a very fun bit of halftrack. I'll post pix of the walls later.

I haven't ridden the Strawberry-Pine trail since 1998 or so, and a lot of things have changed since I was last there. Mostly it's the missing restaurant that threw me off. I tooled all over Strawberry for 30 minutes looking for this goddamned trailhead (you'll see this on the map). Turns out they built a very nice parking lot right off the 87. Strawberry-Pine continues to be one of my favorite challenging singletracks anywhere. It's too bad it's only 3ish miles long, because it's a riot. Narrow, overgrown, largely forgotten. Interesting rock gardens that are just barely cleanable if you're paying attention (the new 29er kicked all kinds of pumpkin in here -- I'm very happy with it!). Unfortunately there are a few splits in the trail that can kick you off onto Hardscrabble Road prematurely.

Even more unfortunately, we didn't take the correct split-off, and continued up an really, really old sidecut into Strawberry Mountain that appeared to top out on the mesa itself. Suck! Wasted a lot of time doing this climb. The jerk who wrote that guidebook should be shot! Actually we ended up being directly above the next trailhead, but about 75' too high on a cliffside. So, back down and continue on Hardscrabble Road.

Last third of the ride heads south of Hardscrabble. There's a new (like 2 years old or less) USFS sign indicating the Walnut Trail. I think. I don't believe I got a photo of the trail sign. Anyway, says Oak Spring is 2 miles down the trail. So off we go. Starts out as primo singletrack -- smooth, pretty, rhythmic. Then we end up following a stream bed, as the trail continues to enter and exit the drainage. This is all hike-a-bike.

We go looking for a split in the trail that's supposed to be obvious, but we can't find it. Spend another 30 minutes hiking all over the mountain looking for cairns, old road grades, anything. Nothing. Finally stumble on a break in the brush and continue along. It's a junction with Trail 16 (a continuation of the Highline Trail west of the Pine trailhead, if anyone knows where that is), which I'm looking forward to checking out in the very near future as an alternate to this Trail 251 we're currently on.

Finally we get to Oak Spring, and I'm nearly out of water. We've been on the trail 6 hours at this point and the weather's starting to roll in. The Spring itself is very difficult to access, although I can hear running water coming out of it somewhere in the brush. I decide to gamble on finishing up the ride before I'm completely out.

Totally unexpected, we bump into an Arizona Trail sign at Oak Spring. WTF!? Apparently the Walnut Trail is part of the AZ Trail, and the markings are really excellent. I mean, way better than we were expecting out in the middle of nowhere. We can't find the singletrack we were expecting to follow back to the Tonto Bridge road, so we start exploring this trail. It goes straight up to the top of Pine Ridge and we end up about 300' too high and way too south. Major suck-fest now that I'm down to my last 10oz. Back to the Spring.

Another 30 minutes of exploring and I find the pipe that leads from the spring down to a ranch that's supposed to be at the base of this trail. Singletrack! It's fantastic, too, obviously used, easy to follow once you find it, a bone-jarring good time all the way down to the ranch. Which doesn't exist. Instead, we stumble into this little compound of multi-million $$$ "cabins" (10,000 s.f. for you and a few hundred of your closest friends) along the stream bed. Wild! They're totally cool with cyclists coming through -- apparently they get about 4 a year. They even have a sign-in book for you."

[JimmyLyding]

I'm in. I need to do as many hikes in the beautiful state of Arizona soon because it looks like I might be relocating out-of-state.

[joebartels]

cool, now if we can convince the chicken fried chicken enthusiast too... or his dancing buddy AndreyP or haven't seen Johnlp in a while or or...

[DarthStiller]

Is Andrey even in the country still?