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| Hiking | 20.20 Miles |
4,475 AEG |
| | Hiking | 20.20 Miles | 12 Hrs 8 Mns | | 2.48 mph |
| 4,475 ft AEG | 4 Hrs Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | On Friday, Andrew, Dan, and I drove to Rogers Trough. The road is in fairly good condition. I won't say you need a 4x4, but you do need a vehicle with some good ground clearance. Don't bring the family car!
We were amazed at the number of vehicles parked at the Trailhead. Several more arrived after us, and both groups headed out on Passage 19. They told us it was just a one night campout.
Our plan was to camp at Rogers Trough Friday night, and leave one vehicle there while we took the other to the Picketpost Trailhead on Saturday morning to start our hike.
I don't think any of us thought it would get as cold as it did Friday night. The lows in Phoenix had been in the 60s the past week, but that night at Rogers Trough, it got down to 35. What a difference elevation can make. I woke up cold several times during the night.
We were up at 4:45 Saturday morning. We ate, packed up and headed to Picketpost. The view driving out of Rogers Trough was amazing. The early morning sun on the mountains made for some great pictures. We also stopped along the road to grab some pics of Elephant Arch. It really does look like an Elephant.
3 hours from the time we woke up, we started our hike. The time getting ready and driving to Picketpost ate up a good chunk of our hiking time. Looking back, we should have just dropped off a vehicle and drove to Picketpost on Friday. We would have saved at least 2 hours.
Hiking north, we passed under US60. The trail is in great shape and easy to follow. We kept looking back at the awesome views of Picketpost Mountain.
This section passes through a lot of land used for open cattle grazing. We were passed by three cowboys with horses and a dog herding the cattle. I think one of the cowboys thought he was going to scare us by asking if we seen any snakes yet. I guess we must have looked like some newbies to him. Although he told us we would see them, we never seen a snake the whole day. With the warm weather and tall grass, I was kind of surprised we didn't.
At coordinates N33 18.226 W111 09.199 we crossed our first stream with running water. Having hiked only 5.5 miles into this section we had plenty of water. We continued to hike along this stream or others like it all day long. The down side to these streams is the cattle. Their fresh droppings are all over the trail. The smell and the flies they attract is not very pleasant. Be sure to treat the water if you drink it.
The real work on this hike seems to start about mile 10. This is where we started to get some serious elevation gain. From mile 10 to mile 16 there is almost a 3000 ft gain. While this was not excessive, it seemed worse because we had already gone 10 miles.
The hike up took its toll on Andrew. He forgot his treking poles, so I gave him mine to use, and Dan shared his water with him. It was a long trek to the top, and by the time we got there, Andrew was spent. Fortunately for us, the top of the hill is also where you reach FR650. This is mile 16.2. Andrew rested along the road while Dan and I finished the last 2.4 miles of the hike and returned with the vehicle to pick him up.
Aside form the cattle, this passage gave us some of the best views we've seen on the trail. Not just the mountains, but the wild flowers and wild life (deer) as well. Just another fine day on the Arizona Trail.  |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
Lots of flowers and tall grass all along the trail. |
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