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| Hiking | 23.09 Miles |
5,883 AEG |
| | Hiking | 23.09 Miles | 7 Hrs 49 Mns | | 3.12 mph |
| 5,883 ft AEG | 25 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | First time up the Weatherford Trail. Absolutely loved it. 
The original plan was to do the Summit Trail, Weatherford, Kachina loop that a few HAZ-ers have posted doing recently. However, a few days before heading up to Flag, a friend warned us that Snowbowl Road was going to be closed that morning for a cancer fundraiser, involving about 4000 people "hiking" up the road to the Lodge. So, we changed plans to an up-and-back on the Weatherford Trail instead.
Watching the forecast in the week leading up to this hike, I was a little concerned as the chance of rain steadily crept up to +50%. But, most said it would not roll in till after 11 a.m., so we got an early start from Phoenix, and were on the trail by 8 a.m. The goal was to top out before any storm rolled in.
In typical Flagstaff monsoon fashion, there was hardly a cloud in the sky all morning and the hiking conditions were ideal. The rain in the area from earlier in the week made everything lush and green. The hike up was chock full of beautiful vistas. Coming over Doyle saddle and getting the first glimpse of the inner basin was a real treat. One of my favorite parts of the hike was the approach to Fremont saddle in which you go through some beatiful forested areas. At points, the trail is a bit overgrown with pine/fir(?) branches brushing both sides of you as you head up the trail (I felt kind of like I was walking through the back of the closet in C.S. Lewis's "Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"). I didn't find myself in Narnia on other side, but it was beautiful country. Both Doyle Saddle and Fremont Saddle make fine turnaround points.
The light cloud cover was timed perfectly to roll in and provide shade as I traversed the exposed area above the treeline, past Fremont saddle and along Agassiz. As I topped out where the trail crosses over the side of Agassiz and began descending towards the saddle/junction with the Summit Trail, I thought that coming back UP this on the way back will be fun.  [I also think this point makes a nice turnaround point as well--with beautiful views both of the inner basin, as well as to the south and east on the other side.]
Hustling to beat the rain, I made it to the "end" of the Weatherford Trial (where it joins the summit trail at the saddle) and then headed straight up to the summit of Humphreys, topping out in 3 hrs. 45 min. Suprisingly, it was quite calm on top (no wind), which was a first for me. I spent 25 min. on top before the clouds and a very light drizzle (which I could see to the south) crept up towards the summit, and decided it was time to get out of the lightning zone. There was a group of 5 others on top who had gotten caught in the cancer fundraiser/closure and had parked at the bottom of snowbowl road, but managed to hitch a ride to the summit trailhead with some folks associated with the event. They were hoping that someone would have similar mercy on them to drive them back to their car from the trailhead.
The return trip back down Weatherford was a bit slower, as I caught up with some of our group who had turned around earlier on the trail, and we hiked together at a more leisurely pace for the last 4-5 miles.
About 3 miles from the trailhead, the rain started to come down and the lightning/thunder kicked in (glad we were nowhere near the top at that point). We pulled out our ponchos and just enjoyed the ride.
At the trail register, we took the "alternate return route" through Weatherford Canyon. It was a bit more wet and muddy (the less used trail is a bit overgrown and channeled the rain water), but the sights were well worth it--particularly a few particularly gorgeous stands of
aspen). Much of what clearly used to be the trail through this area was covered with branches, logs etc. Not sure if that was just to discourage motorized vehicles or whether the FS is trying to eliminate hiking traffic as well(?) In any event a "new" hiking path goes parallel to the old, debris-filled one.
A couple of notes on the trai:
--The HAZ description says the Weatherford Trail is 17.4 miles round trip. I don't think that's accurate. I believe that's the distance if you turn around at Fremont Saddle, which is about 8.7 from the trailhead, but still about 1.8 miles from the end of the Weatherford Trail.
--The "Official HAZ" route shows the distance from trailhead to the Summit Trail/saddle junction (the "end" of the Weatherford Trail) as 10.53 miles. I think that is accurate.
--The description could also be a bit confusing because it starts out by saying that this is "another way to the to of Mt. Humphreys." This is true, BUT to do so, you have to hike an additional--and very challenging--.9 mi. (and 800 ft elev.) beyond the END of the Weatherford trail to top out on Humphreys.
--All told, I tracked that it is 11.4 miles from the Weatherford Trailhead to the Humphreys Summit. So, round trip from Weatherford Trailhead to Humphreys summit and back is about 23 miles.
--Cell coverage: On Verizon, we were able to send/receive text messages among our group essentially throughout the hike, though calls were a bit hit and miss.
Can't wait to get up there again (hopefully to do the loop we had originally planned). |
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