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| Hiking | 27.79 Miles |
6,275 AEG |
| | Hiking | 27.79 Miles | 12 Hrs | | 2.32 mph |
| 6,275 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This was my first trip with my new Spot that is controlled from my DeLorme GPS. It has a couple of cool features. You can download a handful of e-mail groups and 14 custom messages into the DeLorme. Then you can send any of the 14 pre-recorded messages to any of the e-mail groups. Then it gets cooler, from the field you can send a custom message (or SMS) on the fly to anyone of the groups. The DeLorme unit also gives you a status of each of the messages. This is cool stuff! 
Ok, now to the trip report. The forest service write-up on the Bull Spring trail #34 stated there was a cabin at the end of the trail. That was my goal. I parked at the Doll Baby TH and walked the 3.6 miles on the forest road to the Bull Spring TH. (The road is closed vehicles at the Doll Baby TH) My plan as to take the Bull springs trail to Cabin and then return back on the Brush trail. I had printed Topo maps with all the trails. After about a mile on the Bull Springs trail, the original trail disappears and there is an old Jeep road that routes you over to the Brush trail. I used my GPS to search for the Bull spring trail, but I couldn't find it. I figured I would find it on the intersection where the Brush trail ends.
I continued on the Brush trail and climbed over a pass. The pass had some dead fall and some catclaw. I made to the other side of the mountain and there was a nice defined old jeep road. I took it to where the GPS's showed the intersection of the Brush / Bull Spring trails. This is where the Brush ends and the Bull spring continues. There was no sign here. The trail dropped down to the Bull canyon and the trail paralleled a dry creek bed. Once I crossed the creek bed at the actual Bull spring, the trail disappeared. This area looked the fire burnt it out good. There was no trees just tall grass that hid any evidence of a trail. I used the GPS's to keep on track. I made it to the Bull Spring / Wet Bottom intersection. There was no intersection sign, just a bunch of cairns. I took the sharp turn to the right for the Bull Springs. The trail went past a dry tank and disappeared again. I used the GPS's to follow where the trail should have been. It was tough terrain, but I made to the end. I didn't see any cabin, but I did find the Childer's seep. I took lunch and rested. The temps were pretty warm. I was bouncing between 4,700 and 5,000 for most of the day. I had traveled 14 miles so far.
I headed back to the unmarked Brush / Bull Spring intersection. I found a small hidden cairn and searched for the continuation of the Bull Spring trail. I bushwhacked for about 1/3 of a mile on top of where my GPS showed where it should have been. I was burning energy and time looking for this 'short-cut'. I gave up at 5:30 and bushwhacked to the longer, but well defined Brush trail. I had to pull out my flashlight about a 1/4 mile from the forest road. There was a full moon, but it sat too low to light up forest road. The good about hiking in the dark that is it that it cooled off really nice. I had just gone through the last of my 7 liters of water for the day. I got back to my Jeep at 8:30.
From what I can gather, it looks like a section of the bull spring trail has been decommissioned and replaced with the Jeep road that routes you to the Brush trail. This is part of the AZ trail. |
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"Everywhere is walking distance...If you have the time"
-Stephen Wright |
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