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| Hiking | 6.50 Miles |
900 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.50 Miles | | | |
| 900 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I wanted to get some mileage on the old legs, but nothing stretching them too much, so we chose to hike the Deer Creek Trail in the Mazatzal's, which I had never done. It never appeared all that wonderful from 87, but it was close and about right. So we set the Gowan grave as the turn around point. Weather was cool - in the high 30's at the trailhead. Didn't know how hard the grave would be to find.
At one point about 2 miles in we missed a turn - the trail looked like it took to the drainage which is very rocky going. In reality, the trail made a hard left, and being somewhat overgrown, we missed it completely. In addition the "official" GPS track maker must have missed this same turn, as the track also took to the drainage. So we just thought that this must be the "official" trail #45.
Anyway, we kept going - slowly due to the required rock hopping and some easy creek crossings. When we got to about where the the grave was, we couldn't see it from the creek. I had the USGS quad topo on my GPS, so I set a waypoint at the cross representing the grave on that map and let the technology take us there. Hit it dead on, you might say  .
We were surprised by two things: one, the grave area has had little or no vandalism (which is good), and two, the "official" #45 trail goes right by the grave. Thus, if we had not missed the turn and taken to the creek bed we would not have had to search for it.
For the return, we decided to follow the #45 back to the trailhead - and this made it obvious where we had missed the turn. Oh well, we got to make a partial loop out of it - and we would not have enjoyed the sights along the creek bottom.
I will upload a GPS track that has both routes on it, so others can choose which to use or make a partial loop hike out of this.
I will say that the first, approximately, one mile of the trail (from the trailhead until you reach Deer Creek) seemed to confirm my negative impression gained from many drive-bys on 87. But after that, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is a rather neat cool weather hike. I would recommend it. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Light
Sycamores had not dropped their leaves as yet, although they were well past their prime. |
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| To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire; and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace. -- Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56 AD – 117 AD) |
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