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| | Raspberry Creek Trail, AZ | | | |
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Raspberry Creek Trail, AZ
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| Hiking | 10.00 Miles |
1,000 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.00 Miles | | | |
| 1,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | If you have not hiked in the Blue Primitive Area in Eastern Arizona you are missing seeing some of the wildest, most remote country in the Southwest. If you want to see wildlife, this is the place.
I had spent Saturday night car camped at Mile 27 along the Blue River Road, which afforded me a fairly early start. Blue River Road is over 30 miles of gravel (and lots of river crossings) to its end. The end of the road is blocked by a ranch gate. Access through this private property is provided by a foot trail. However, serendipity arrived in the form of the landowner, riding not on a horse, but on a quad. After a bit of conversation he decided to leave the gate open for me to drive the mile or more (and another river crossing) to the end of the road.
I started hiking down the Blue River, crossing it twice on foot--about knee deep or less. I wore Chacos for the crossings and switched to boots once I crossed twice. Raspberry Creek Trail #73 starts up the west side of the river, and it is a very short hike from the end of the road to the trail junction, but you have to watch for it. There are big rock cairns.
My map showed me I would be hiking along the creek for a short distance, then have a traverse of more than a couple of miles to where the trail hits the creek again. The area was burned over in the Wallow Fire but the creek bottom didn't take the brunt of it. The riparian area still has large trees. The hillsides are recovering. Hillside vegetation is pinon-juniper, with a few oaks, grasses and brush.
Once I reached my destination and looked around for (future) backpacking campsites, I returned the way I had come.
On my way down, while on the ridge separating Raspberry Creek with McKittrick Creek I heard a noise. A red and white jet, resembling a Learjet, came down the canyon very low and fast, well below the mountain tops. It flew on down the Blue River and then through a saddle between two mountains about 10 miles away. The whole incident lasted less than a minute, left me a bit shaky, but in awe of the pilot.
After returning home, I talked to a Forest Service aviation specialist friend of mine who told me that the area is a Military Training Route about 10 miles wide, and that I should not be surprised to see such things. It didn't look like a military jet to me, but he said that doesn't matter, it could have been one, or not.
I can't wait to get back to the area, although it does get too hot down in there in summer, but then I can go to the upper elevation areas of the range, such as KP Creek, etc. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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There is a point of no return unremarked at the time in most lives. Graham Greene The Comedians
A clean house is a sign of a misspent life. |
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