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| Hiking | 7.00 Miles |
1,375 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.00 Miles | 6 Hrs 15 Mns | | 1.12 mph |
| 1,375 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | An event filled day with Marland (aka MEWhiteman) and Hank (aka Grasshopper). This description has 2 parts, the hike and the drive.
First there was the hike which was another winner presented by Grasshopper Tours. We drove to the lower Reynolds Creek trailhead which is now possible. FR410 has been recently cleared of numerous fallen trees and rocks. FR410 requires a high clearance vehicle and 4WD is highly recommended as well. There are about 6 rock beds to drive over and my stock 4Runner handled it well just using high gear 4WD.
From the lower Reynolds Creek trail we hiked the entire trail to its upper trailhead near Murphy Ranch. From there we backtracked to an old unofficial trail (probably a decommissioned trail but still very much a trail). We used that trail going off trail for a short distance to Hank's favorite lunch spot and great canyon overlook point. After taking in the views we reconnected with the old trail and continued back connecting to the Center Mountain trail (#142) taking it to the Reynolds Creek trail for the final part of the return trip. THE MAP shows our hike along with the Pueblo Canyon Overlook hike we did a couple of weeks ago and the popular ruins sites in the Sierra Anchas.
The hike was filled with great views, lush green forest, and a modest amount of deadfall but basically the trails were in good condition showing signs of recent trail maintenance. I will let the pictures tell more of that story.
Now onto the drive. OMG !! We left from Power & McDowell road at 7:00 AM. After turning off route 60 onto route 188 at about 8:00 AM on this Wednesday I had yet another talk with a law enforcement officer who made a U turn to remind me that the speed limit on this 4 lane road was 45 - not 55. A warning message came along with that talk. Hank commented that I was getting really good at producing my driver's license, registration and proof of insurance. That was the first interesting event of the drive but not the last. We started hiking at 9:45 AM and finished at 4:00 PM so theoretically we should have been back to Power & McDowell by 7:00 PM. But that was not about to happen.
On route 60 about 5 miles out of Miami there was a police officer coming from the other direction waving his hand up and down so we would slow down because traffic came to a complete stop after that. There had been an accident ahead involving injuries and fatalities. Walking out of the car we learned that the projected time for reopening 60 was at least 4 hours away. Lots of emergency vehicles were nearby including hovering helicopters. We decided to make a U turn as many did to take a different route home. Shortly after that traffic in that direction was stopped as well. Turns out that a helicopter landing site had been established there and we were trapped between the scene of the accident and the helicopter landing site.
Walking toward the landing site Hank learned we could not return a back way using the road to Winkleman in Superior because that was closed as well. So after the helicopter took off east bound traffic started moving and we made our way slowly to the intersection of 188 and 60 where we stopped for diner. We then drove back via 188 to 88 (Apache Trail) and took that 44 miles of extremely curvy road past Apache Lake and Canyon Lake coming home. Between 8:30 and 9:30 PM on a Wednesday there was a surprising amount of traffic, some slow moving, that I had to pass or go completely out of my mind (yikes!!). Coming from the opposite direction also was a police vehicle followed by an ambulance and a short distance past that was a fire truck parked with all lights on. We can only guess that was for some emergency maybe at Apache Lake.
We arrived at Power & McDowell at 10:00 PM, 3 hours past our expected time of arrival. These are some of the fund things that happen on hiking day. But would I do it again. You bet. |
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