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| Hiking | 2.90 Miles |
746 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.90 Miles | 2 Hrs 55 Mns | | 1.66 mph |
| 746 ft AEG | 1 Hour 10 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Since I just had my knee surgery on Friday we set out to do some four-wheeling while checking out some new remote areas. Reading about Hank's hike of the Horse Canyon Indian ruins we thought that would be a good destination. Now that my Samurai was all done we decided to take it out there to see just how rough the road was. We got a late start leaving at 8:00 AM but the weather was so cool it didn't seem to make any difference.
It was about 9:30 AM when we hit FR 609 and started to climb up to the trailhead. Near the top just as we were getting into a rough area I was about to engage the air locker when it blew an air line. It turns out the air line expanded in the heat so although it had been tight it popped off. But no matter, we just pulled off the side I pulled out some plastic ties, re-secured it and we were off again. It wasn't a few minutes later when we came to the trailhead where Hank & Eric started their hike. It appeared the road kept going farther so we continued driving until the trees closed in on us. All in all, the road was in great shape all the way up and we probably could have made it in a two-wheel drive car with just a little care.
Once we got out of the car it looked like there was an opening for a good view so we thought we would just walk a couple hundred feet from the car, take a few pictures then do some more four-wheeling. As soon as Tracey got out of the car, she realized it was pretty chilly. We weren't dressed for hiking just for driving in the car so didn't even have a windbreaker along. But by being a little creative Tracey used an old T-shirt (really a rag) as well as making use of the seat-cover/blanket as a serape and found a reasonable amount of comfort. Then we set out for the photo opportunity. However as usually happens, there was no great view so we continued to walk a little farther, just a little farther and pretty soon we were within a half mile of the ruins. From memory I couldn't remember if Hank & Eric's followed the ridge on their first or second and successful attempt to reach the ruins, but since this was only 5 days since my knee surgery following the relatively flat terrain of the ridge would be better. But as I found out once I got home and looked at their routes, we pretty much got cliffed out so decided to call it a day and head back to the car. Besides, only intending to walk a few hundred feet from the car, we had no food or water and had been hiking for almost two hours. But now that we got so close to the ruins we'll soon be back for another attempt.
Between the two of us we took almost a hundred photos and a number of videos, including a half-dozen with the camera was mounted on the dashboard while we were driving.
Although the terrain where we hiked was uneven and rocky, surprisingly my knee felt great and I had no issues at all so we continued on. In actuality it was better on my knee than standing for 6 hours at work. Even now a day later it feels and looks much better. So I think I'll intersperse my work days with short hikes to help keep the healing going, it can't happen soon enough. I'm hoping the knee allows me to get in a few solid hikes before my next issue to deal with, a CT-guided needle biopsy of a 1" round mass in my upper left lung. Since I've tested positive for valley fever antibodies, I'm hoping the mass is a result of that and not something more ominous. We'll soon see as the biopsy is scheduled on May 24th.
I only had time today to upload the whole batch to my own website:
http://www.changephoenix.com/11/2011-05-11HorseCanyon.html
I'll pick out a few dozen of the best to upload here on HAZ tomorrow. It'll probably be Sunday or Monday before I have videos posted |
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