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| Hiking | 4.00 Miles |
337 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.00 Miles | 3 Hrs | | 1.34 mph |
| 337 ft AEG | 1 Min Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Saturday was just too nice a day to pass up so, after I finished a few chores, I headed out to the horse trailer parking lot on First Water Road. Gear on, I headed down the trail to the old ranch site with the covered corral.
I always pause at the old corral and wonder what it must have been like down here back in the 40's and 50's with cowboys on horseback working the cattle through the ramp into waiting trucks. I looked across First Water Creek towards Garden Valley and decided that I would cut a straight path to the top of those hills, thereby making a shorter trek to the Garden Valley.
Once I started to go uphill, I was following an obvious trail and my first thought was that it was wildlife, but I soon found boot prints and knew that this is a seldom use shortcut trail. As I continued working my way up, the angle got steeper and the brush a little thicker, but soon I broke out on top of the ridge and looking down on Garden Valley on one side and First Water Valley on the other.
A short distance off to my left was the arch prominently sitting on top of the ridge, giving me the eyeball. I climbed around the rocks for several minutes looking for old Indian Relics that might be left lying around, but found none. But I did find a comfortable bedding area in a shallow alcove immediately below the arch. A cache of firewood against the back wall and lots of grass to soften up the hard rock base.
I worked my way down to the floor of Garden Valley where I found the area containing several Metates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metate) and an alcove that could have been used as an oven for curing pottery. Fragments of pottery or Sherds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherd) still litter the area close to the oven (NOTE! removing the pottery fragments is illegal).
After satisfying my desire for historic remanents (they're still lying there), I left the area following the busy trail leading down from the Garden back to the covered corral. Along the way I passed several hikers who were making the full Garden Valley, Hackberry Spring loop and soon I was back at my truck unloading my gear.
A very pleasant day, a short but satisfying hike, and another hike in the Superstitions  |
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| On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip. |
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