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| Hiking | 6.11 Miles |
975 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.11 Miles | | | |
| 975 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | My son-in-law, Lloyd, and I hiked a slightly different version of the Merritt Draw Loop on the last day of our camping trip to Grasshoppers campsite #2 on FR139C. Grasshopper directed us to the intersection of FR9735P and 139C a short walk past his campsite. This section of 9735P is no longer used for vehicle traffic and offers a scenic hiking path through a mixed forest of pines, firs, oak and Aspen. I was surprised to seen what appeared to be Noble Fir which are fairly common to the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and on Christmas tree farms in the Willamette Valley. We tried to walk quietly and not talk as we proceeded along the old road bed hoping to see elk. Shortly after we passed the bend in the road where it starts to proceed up Merritt Draw we spooked an elk herd in the forest below the road. We got some quick glimpses of elk tails disappearing into thicker cover and that was it.
As we entered the open meadows near Merritt Spring we encountered a large work party of people from the Arizona Elk Society. They were repairing the fences around the three protected riparian areas. Lloyd and I jokingly speculated that they were building a giant elk trap for the fall hunting season. However a conversation with one of their members quickly cleared up the purpose of their labors. The AES has taken over the national forest grazing lease for the area. This effectively keeps cattle out of the area so they don't compete with the elk for food. The Forest Service requires lease holders to keep lease boundary fences in repair and to also maintain the protected riparian areas which explained the presence of the AES volunteers. The fences protect sensitive wetlands and endangered plant species from large herbivores. The work party was also clipping off small trees which were coming up everywhere along the edges of the meadow to prevent the forest from taking over the meadows. The meadow grass outside the fenced enclosures was clipped off nearly to the ground from elk and deer grazing but was still lush inside the enclosures. This over grazing is one of the reasons the forest is reclaiming the meadows (my opinion which may be incorrect).
We continued up the meadow area of the draw past all three enclosures until we got to the end of the vehicle use approved section of 9735P. At that point we returned down the draw to a point just past Whistling Spring and then hiked to the top of the ridge on the south east side. We proceeded north east along the top of the ridge which was flat and open except for the crossing of one side draw until we got to a fence which crosses the ridge and 139C close to our camp. At that point we followed the fence down to our camp. |
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