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We have all heard the stories of hikers stumbling across illegal dope grows out in the national forest, the Mexican Cartels, and the 'no go' areas of CA. These drug growers damage the forest, poach wildlife, and have been known to shoot hikers who happen across them. An article in USA Today, Aug 19, told that the latest CA fire was started by the Cartel boys while cooking dinner at one of their grows. As an environmentalist, it pisses me off that this is happening in our public lands.

We hikers can help keep our national forests safe by reporting grow sites and suspicious activity to the authorities. I found a grow two years ago in the Matazals, a quarter mile east of the Arizona Trail near a popular Boy Scout Camp site. So, M-16 toting illegal aliens are that close to your kids out there. No better reason to shut them down. I do not advocate others to go out looking for grows; but it is fun for those of us with nothing to lose, hiking off trail in the manzanita, seeing remotest of places.


I was wondering if there are any others in the club who like to go 'hunting', and if anyone has any tips or suggestions to help out. The best places to look are around reliable water sources, like springs, wells, creeks,etc. However, there are just so many miles and miles of territory out there to search, even with aids like sat maps and the like, it is difficult to find anything. The Bradshaws have had some busts, as have the Rim area and Matazals. Gila County is also a good area. This weekend will be a hike along the feeder streams of Cherry Creek, just east of the Sierra Anchas.

Lets keep the comments on topic and not about the question of legalization of marijuana, or whether getting stoned is a good idea or not. There is plenty of material here in which to bash or ridicule without the aid of those tired arguments. Yes, the mission is potentially dangerous, but not any more dangerous than walking through South Phoenix after dark. Besides, the odds of finding a grow are about zero unless you put in a bunch of miles intelligently.

Here is a pic of the trash left behind at the Matazal grow site. Thousands of starter dixie cups, plastic bird netting, a bone yard of poached wildlife, fertilizer bags, irrigation equiment, shoes, clothes, tortilla wrappers, Miracle Grow, etc. etc. Basically, the same trash you find at Organ Pipe National Monument or anywhere near the human trafficking routes.

azbackpackr wrote: Someone I know was leading teenagers on a backpacking trip last year near Cherry Creek, hiking those drainages out there, and they went to the area a couple of times. One time they were confronted by a guy who basically told them to go away, yelled at them, told them they "shouldn't be hiking in this area."

There are lots of areas where people don't go. Find a drainage with no trail, bushwhack up it.

I may have found the site that you speak of: It is located on Hinton Creek, about 1/4 sw of Cherry Creek Road. (N 33.86112 W 110.88218)

I found an old grow site on this weekend's excursion. It was operating in 2006 or 2007 I am guessing, with the trash dating 2006, mostly Bimbo brand products (guess who?). I am not sure that it was busted or not, but many of the dope stalks are still in the ground (see pic) and are 1" diameter or larger, so the plants were well along at the time they were cut. Someone has already taken the best components of the irrigation system ( valves, T's, unions, ect.) leaving just long stretches of 3/4" blue stripe hose. It is a score for anyone needing some good irrigation hose; plus, taking the hose will help clean up the site. I would have hauled out a few coils if it were not so late in the day. Overall, the site is in good condition compared to others I have seen.

The growers snaked an irrigation line from the spring above the falls to their grow area on north facing slope. They were lazy and did not bother to bury their lines or disguise the intake, which ended up costing them a lot of $$$ when your friends discovered it. Lazy indeed, there are far better locations for grows farther up Hinton Creek, but they chose to stake one out only a quarter mile from the road. Watching crops grow like like watching grass grow, it is very slow, which allows an enterprising immigrant ample time to conceal his irrigation system. I am glad the fool was caught.

The hike was from Cherry Creek Road, up three miles in Pueblo Canyon, then back up the ridge and down Hinton Creek. A Forest Service helicopter was working Pueblo Canyon, crawling along about two mile an hour. He checked me out and moved on. There are a lot of drops and falls along the route, making for slow progress. One hazard cost me about an hour to bypass.

At Hinton Creek, it was quite the rush when I looked down and saw the irrigation hose. Time to pull the pistol and disappear into the undergrowth. When you are in that situation, one does not know where the bad guys are, so it is best to keep quiet, lest you become the hunted. I did not know that the site was abandoned until I traveled 40 yards down stream, finding breaks in the irrigation system and empty grow terraces. I took a deep breath and checked the place out. There is a big, black bear living there, and he was feasting on the wild berries and grapes near the spring.

I posted some pics of the trip, under Pueblo Creek

I think if you arrive at a patch at the exact moment of awesome greasy bud, there are likely to be some very bad characters around to discourage you from sampling. As for the quality being skank, that is not what my acquaintance said at all, he said it was pretty good. As I said, he went back a few months later to that patch long after it was busted and found some that the cops didn't remove, although it was getting moldy by then. Apparently, despite all the talk about the trash and destruction caused by these growers, and OOOH how concerned they are about it, the Forest Service didn't clean up ANY of the trash, and there were still a lot of food bins, tarps, tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear, garbage bags full of garbage and trash laying around everywhere.

Yosemite National Park (CA)
Major Marijuana Garden Eradicated
8/25/2009

Rangers and NPS special agents, with assistance from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, eradicated 4,735 marijuana plants valued at nearly $19 million from within the park last week. Items removed from the area included nearly 400 pounds of fertilizer, 3,000 feet of irrigation hose, and 200 pounds of human trash. Two suspects were observed in the area but fled.
No arrests were made in the operation

hikeaz wrote:Items removed from the area included ... 200 pounds of human trash. ... No arrests were made in the operation.

At first it sounded like they caught one guy (or maybe two small ones), but I guess not.

they didnt say white trash, but they should've

big_load wrote:

hikeaz wrote:Items removed from the area included ... 200 pounds of human trash. ... No arrests were made in the operation.

At first it sounded like they caught one guy (or maybe two small ones), but I guess not.

I know; it almost would have made the title of the thread even more fun by making it sound like the cops were searching for some dopey person who was off-trail.

Found three more grow sites in the Matazals last weekend.

The first one is only a quarter mile from the B-line Hwy, taking maybe twenty minutes to get there from the road. It has the most 'devastation' of the lot, with quite a bit of trash and equipment lying about. It has some good pruners, a couple of camp stoves, tools, and irrigation line there for the taking. Not much of the line looked worth keeping because it is sun rotted in some places. What is interesting about this site is their ingenious water reservoir and the fact that it was used consecutive years, which is evident by the additions and improvements made to the older lines.

The second location is smaller, but the guys there did a great job husbanding a scarce water source, utilizing several storage basins and collection sites that would fill over an extended period of time. It proves that one can grow a nice plot on meager water resources if so inclined. All the locations trash date to 2005 and appear to be all run under the same outfit.

Judging by the trash left behind, I venture to say that indentured servitude in the drug trade is not such a bad gig, after all. The Cartel bosses provide their workers with a copious supply of beer, cigarettes, and all the shrimp flavored Ramen noodles they can eat. I wish that my employer was so generous.

http://hikearizona.com/images/screensho ... ot-108.png

Did you report these sites or were they all inactive?

Hiking in the chiricahuas, pinalenos, and baboquarvi mountains will most likely give you a sign of coyotes or illegals. One time in the chiricahuas i was hiking with 3 buds and we came upon a group of (coyotes with looked to be m16s or something like that) sitting by a fire because it was snowing. They threatened us with their guns and told us to buzz off it looked like by the way they were pointing their guns. It was a scary encounter. We told border patrol but they never found the coyotes. Then with the baboquarvi mountains and the pinaleno mountains I have seen probaly around 30 illegals.

Croetken. The reason why the mountain lions are so aggresive in the Bradshaws are because most of them are bad lions that were transported from other parts of the state because of bad behavior. Its their second chance in the bradshaws so if they do one more agreesive manuveur, yes they are allowed to shot or killed. Same with the bears there.

Where in the Pinalenos? I saw some in the Eagletail Wilderness which seemed oddly far from the border too.

I was driving up swift trail highway or whatever it is called and saw 3 of them off the road up near Riggs Flat lake. IT was odd to see them so close to the lake but Im sure they were illegals by how fast they ran away after I saw them from the truck driving by at 25 mph.

You saw some in the Eagle Tail wilderness? Wow thats far from the border thats near la paz county right?

Gee once I'm outta Maricopa I haven't clue one
http://hikearizona.com/TL.php?ID=3217

Truth be told, you'll run into immigrants and dope runners in any of the ranges south of I-10 down here...

Yeah, down there Croetken could hunt for abandoned bales! I'm sure there are some out there! ;)

in reply to azbackpacker, i would certainly report any sites or dirtbags dead or alive that i encounter. like i said it pisses me off to have to worry about these people even though i do get a adreniline rush thinking about it going down some obscure rd. i was mainly throwing the '' what would you do before calling the cops if there was a bunch of dead people million in cash and some nice weapons .'' the dope i could give two craps about. would you take it or leave it? nobody around in a very remote area. and yes crown king 4by 4 and areas n. of lake pleasant are like highways in the cooler months during the hottest summer days they are totally dead . and there are a lot of old trails not used or known or justpeople not knowing where they go, to get away from the hordes. maybe i never ran into a grow site because the rogue mnt. lions eat all the growers.

I have heard also that the Hualapai MOuntains are a possible grow spots. There are literally supposedly tens of old old trails that lead to mines and perennial springs and streams that would be perfect for a grow site. PLus other then the Resort and Pine Lake most of the range is pretty remote

'' what would you do before calling the cops if there was a bunch of dead people million in cash and some nice weapons .''
Ahhhh...the 'No Country For Old Men' dilemma.

My fantasy is that I'm hiking down in the Blue Range or somewhere equally remote and I find a plane with dead people in it and a million or two in cash. Then I take the money and run. Then I have to figure out a way to spend it without attracting attention. First I pay off my outstanding credit card bills and other bad debts (about $20,000 right now)--could easily do that by buying money orders. Then I hire some people to fix up my house, which desperately needs it. Then I get a passport and go on a trip to Thailand and New Zealand and other neat places. When I get home, I still have a lot of money to figure out how to launder. Meanwhile, someone has found the airplane, minus its money. Maybe someone is looking for me... I may have bad guys looking for me and good guys too, all wondering where all that money went. I will have to lay low for awhile and let the noise die down, go about my business as if nothing has happened. I'd have the money buried somewhere, in a couple places. I go to casinos, run some through their machines, come out a little ahead or behind, but walking out with clean money...

Maybe I should quit all 3 of my jobs and just start hiking down in the Blue...

azbackpackr wrote:Then I have to figure out a way to spend it without attracting attention.

I'd just start a company...then skim off the payroll...then buy a really fancy car and hat with feather...control the coffee crop...and rule the world... ;) or buy clothes for some(but not all) nude hikers. ;)


Croetken... very admirable thing your doing .