Military Sinkhole Trail #179 Photoset • tibber • 2013-06-08 • HikeArizona.COM

Military Sinkhole Trail #179, AZ

	2013-06-08
	18 by tibber

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Military Sinkhole Trail #179

Payson, AZ

Military Sinkhole Trail #179

Payson, AZ

Hiking	4.70 Miles	1,045 AEG

Hiking	4.70 Miles	3 Hrs 9 Mns	2.19 mph
	1,045 ft AEG	1 Hour Break

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mjmr89

Plan A: Loop up Military over to Lake, around Lake, over and back down Military. Almost 13 miles, too much by myself - save for Kelly and me.
Plan B: Up and down Military, drive to Lake - hike around lake. Yep, sounds good. Check with niece. Yep, she wants to come so I formulated a
Plan C : see if my brother wants to go and since he's not in hiking shape, he can drop us at the 260 TH, drive to Lake, chill while waiting for us to come up Military and over to Lake. Have lunch, hike around Lake, head home. When brother didn't seem too enthusiastic , went back to Plan B.

We got started around 9:30. The temp was warm in the exposed area and simply lovely as we entered the forest. As long as there was a little shade, it was nice. We encountered lizards right off the bat and about 1/2 way up, we decided we should call it "lizard trail - not to be confused with Not Julia" :lol:

. It was a longer distance than I recalled to fern meadow but it was sure worth getting to as the ferns have grown more numerous and taller since I was here two weeks ago. We spent a bit of time here goofing around and taking pictures. A short video of fern meadow: http://youtu.be/P9aMM_O6TxM.

We didn't have far to go and I told Mia to watch for the gate and told her after that, the top would be coming right up

; an advantage in having hiked it a couple weeks before with Kelly. We hiked to the bench that is to the east of the trail and had bunches of snacks and enjoyed the temperature, the breeze and the pines. I think we lingered for nearly 20 minutes or more soaking up the pleasantness of the moment. There was some ambulance activity.

On our way back down we encountered a hiker that was pre-hiking it for a future visit with his wife/girlfriend. That would be our only hiker encounter on this trail. We headed back down and only dallied a couple different times observing plantlife and/or wildlife. We were grateful for the breeze and before you knew it, we were back at the car hungry but certainly no worse for wear.

We loaded up and headed up to the Rim for lunch. I had thot about eating with a lake view but Mia is particularly fond of the Rim view so we stopped at the Woods Canyon Lake Vista and took our stuff out to the Rim for lunch before heading over to the Lake for Part II. Got to enjoy my huckleberry cream ale beer while Mia had a root beer.

I do like this hike as it does give you some elevation yet you get to walk thru the forest . My quads were actually a little sore from this one which surprises me' must have been from the faster pace on the downhill. Guess I need to do some more lunges when I work out.

Flora

Flora [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] New Mexico Locust

Fauna

Fauna [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Greater Short-Horned Lizard

Culture

Culture [ checklist ]

[ checklist ] Throwing a Wendy

_____________________

For me, sometimes it's just as much about the journey as the destination.
Oh, and once in awhile, don't forget to look back at the trail you've traveled.

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