HikeArizona.COM

The past two days I have walked a total of about 20 miles. I walked for exercise, but also walked to work, to shop, and do errands. I usually don't like walking around town, but my car was on the blink, the trails are icy, muddy, slushy and snowy, and it's too cold to bike--it was about 20 degrees when I started out, although it did warm up a lot. Yesterday I walked on out of town and up Water Canyon Rd, a forest service road.

Today after walking from Eagar to Springerville to pick up a paycheck, go to the bank, hit the thrift stores (I'm hunting the perfect Ugly Christmas Sweater for an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party) and the Starbucks, I then walked west on 60 to catch the Becker Lake Wildlife Trail which has been completed as far as Airport Rd. So that took me back toward Eagar. While there I saw a bald eagle, a great blue heron and a big beaver dam, but no beaver. Eventually it's hoped that landowners along the river will allow the trail to be finished all the way to 260 and beyond.

If I were in charge of the world I would make sure there is an unpaved walking path and a paved bike path alongside of every highway. I really dislike walking on pavement--it hurts!

I enjoy watching the lay of the land as it unfolds beneath my feet, and wondered how it would be to follow the highway across the country on foot. Hard to carry enough water, I would guess, in order to make it from here to Socorro.

I think I will do a 20 mile walk pretty soon, out to Wenima Wildlife area, and then down the river a ways and back again, or out to Murray Basin and around the loop and back. I like the feeling that I could walk anywhere.

I like walking around towns, but long stretches of road-walking on highways can be less fun. With traffic, it can be hair-raising.

That'd be a fun trek - from Round Valley to Socorro.

Well, I just recently talked to someone who biked it--I posted here about Victoria's Ride recently. Her blog about that section of highway is pretty witty! Photos are neat, too.

As for the hair-raising issue of walking along highways, how about biking along them, where you more or less have to be in the lane if there is no shoulder? And you may not notice a car coming up behind you, if a noisy one just passed you (unless you have one of those mirrors.) At least on foot you walk on the left, and can jump off into the dirt if necessary, usually! However if the road is icy it really is scary because you never know when someone is going to slide.

Today was a good day to walk, though. No ice on the road, a sunny day which started out cold but warmed up to be in the 40's.

azbackpackr wrote:As for the hair-raising issue of walking along highways, how about biking along them, where you more or less have to be in the lane if there is no shoulder?

I was a pretty hard-core road rider in my youth, but I don't ride at all any more. It's not safe enough around here, although this area is very popular with road bikers.

azbackpackr wrote: If I were in charge of the world I would make sure there is an unpaved walking path and a paved bike path alongside of every highway. I really dislike walking on pavement--it hurts!

Ah, but unpaved paths are not ADA compliant. So next to the path, there'd have to be a min. 3' wide paved path/sidewalk with the necessary access ramps, tactile warning strips and a less than 8 to 1 grade (or it'll require landings and possibly handrails). Of course, this usually necessitates a curb along the edge of the roadway - which means that the water from the road surface is no longer draining into the natural swale along side of the road and needs to be routed into some sort of stabilized channel or pipe to prevent pollution through erosion. This sort of stormwater drainage system requires a bevy of engineers, and in most places, additional water treatment facilities (since highways are often outside of the jurisdiction of existing water districts). As stormwater is unnatrually redistributed, we invent whole new sciences (stormwater harvesting) in an attempt to compensate for our ways and help the natural environment. Of course, this creates new regulations, which in turn make projects more expensive. Both the paved and natural surface paths will also increase the liability of the maintaining authority to lawsuits, which increases their insurance premiums and overhead, which in turn increase taxes. Add to that the tax money spent to install the ADA compliant path and voila! You've got a simple idea which has turned into a multi-billion dollar project in Arizona alone.

And we wonder why it's so hard for the government to get things done. We've regulated ourselves into a corner, making it hard for someone just to walk to the store for milk.

Off my soap box. Sorry, but sidewalks and curbs are evil. Period.

Not to mention the NEPA surveys and NAGPRA/ARPA surveys before you can even break ground on your path...

Like most things created by our government ... the idea behind it was conceived with the best of intentions ... the result sucks.

Aargh. So discouraging!

You a civil engineer or are you related to one?

writelots wrote: Ah, but unpaved paths are not ADA compliant. ... Sorry, but sidewalks and curbs are evil. Period.

Well, Spring seems to be trying to make a stand. I know there is a snowstorm on its way, but today was so warm and nice. And it was the first time I have had time to get outside and walk or do anything, since my homework load has been horrendous lately. So I walked about 2.5 miles on the Becker Lake trail today, along the Little Colorado River. Not a lot of spring runoff yet, but it's easy to see why--the mtns. are really covered in snow. I took some photos and will post a triplog about it later on.

It was great to hear the crunch of dry gravel under my boots and feel the sun on my face. I was able to wear a t-shirt--no jacket! At 8 am this morning the temperature was 26 but I think it may have hit close to 60 by noon or so.

Skiing tomorrow.

I only bike and hike in summer. Walking I do in winter when biking seems sort of cold, and hiking is not doable due to snow on the trails.