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| Hiking | 5.50 Miles |
1,126 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.50 Miles | 2 Hrs 30 Mns | | 2.75 mph |
| 1,126 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | We began this hike from the point where the Arizona Trail #17 crosses Telegraph Canyon Road (aka Forest Road #4). Having spent the early part of the day hiking Arnett Creek we planned on hiking south for about an hour before turning back. This portion of the AZT, like #16 we experienced a few weeks ago was pretty easy going as far as terrain and we both thought it would be fun to do on mountain bikes.
Not 10 minutes later we were met by two guys on mountain bikes. They stopped and we shared thoughts about the trail. We found they had ridden from Picketpost as far as milepost 2.0 fo AZT#17 before turning back. Like us, they thought the trail was great for riding with the exception of cats-claw reaching across the trail in numerous spots between mile-post 2 & 3. This was evident by the bloody scratches they were sporting on arms and legs. As we went our respective ways, I pulled out my clippers in preparation to clear the offending vegetation from the trail. While many hikers may not think twice about the cats-claw, when biking as one leans into corners or to avoid other obstacles the brush needs to be trimmed back a bit farther. So as we continued our hike I got a bit too wrapped up in the trimming and we had hike 20 minutes longer than planned, but with just one more saddle ahead and the likely scenic view we continued until we reached it.
At the last saddle before turning back we noticed an old road that appeared to provide access to the AZT farther out. Now that we noticed it, on the way back we looked to see where it came from. As we were coming downhill about halfway back to our starting point we saw it off to the northwest. Then to see how it connected back to FR4 we cut cross-country down a slope until we reached where it entered a wash. We followed the wash back to FR4 where we walked along the road back to the car. Along the way we met a group of people on quads as well as a solitary Jeep Compass.
Now that I knew how to get on that road I planned to be out two days later to drive the road and see where it lead. See my next 4x4 triplog for how that turns out. (Coming soon)
Hopefully Wednesday (2/15/12) we will drive all the way out to where the new AZT#16 endpoint meets the beginning of AZT#17 then hike south along #16 before making a loop back cross-country over toward Martinez Canyon. |
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