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| Frustum #28 and Verde Benchmark, AZ | |
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| | Frustum #28 and Verde Benchmark, AZ | | | |
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Frustum #28 and Verde Benchmark, AZ
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| Hiking | 12.68 Miles |
1,666 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.68 Miles | 6 Hrs 47 Mns | | 2.95 mph |
| 1,666 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 29 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | A frustum , a benchmark, a reservoir, and Xanthium Strumarium.
Frustum #28 -
Maricopa/Yavapai Boundary Marker #28, was placed in the middle of Deadman Creek.
It’s presently underwater.
Benchmark -
I found Verde Triangulation Station near the 'original' confluence of Deadman Creek and the Verde River. The benchmark is 600 ft south of Frustum #28 and on dry land, for the time being anyway.
Reservoir - Horseshoe Reservoir -
On ‘hike-day’, online charts stated it’s water level was 50% capacity. Ten days prior, the reservoir was 8 ft lower than it was on ‘hike-day’. (About a month ago, it was 19 ft lower). Verde Benchmark was found 30 ft (horizontally) from the present water’s edge. With just another 4 or 5 ft of water depth, Verde BM will be underwater.
I know exactly where Frustum #28 is located, however right now scuba gear would be needed to ‘find’ Frustum #28. Horseshoe Reservoir would have to be (my guess) 15 to 20 ft lower for Frustum #28 to show itself. I’ll come back early fall when the reservoir is usually low.
Xanthium strumarium (scientific name) - Family name - Asteraceae -
Common name - Rough Cocklebur -
At first, I thought I was inundated with caterpillars, but no!
I spent half the hike either covered in cockleburs or pulling them off me. I was a human ‘seed-dispersal-system’. Near the water, there are huge, unavoidable fields of them.
All this stuff occurred on the east shoreline of Horseshoe Reservoir. I parked at the dam and used the ‘under-the-spillway’ walkway to cross the dam. A bit of water was spilling over.
I followed the shoreline to go north, (an excellent shortcut), and with the 2 day rains we had a week ago, the coves were filling in. It made for a longer shoreline, and had me wondering if the benchmark and/or frustum would be above the waterline.
It turned out to be 50/50.
The 1924 surveyors placed Verde Benchmark a few feet from a 4 ft ridge that once defined the normal edge of Deadman Creek. Smart surveyors, keeping it out of the creek itself.
Frustum #28 (also placed in 1924) is right in the middle of Deadman Creek. Surveyors had no choice, since the frustum is a county boundary marker and must be placed ‘on-the-border’. The two ‘mark placements’ were no big deal in 1924, as I’m sure they didn’t know a dam (and reservoir) was going to be established more than 20 years later.
Now however, both ‘marks’ spend alot of time being viewed only by passing fish.
After my ’50/50 find’, I wandered around a bit, figuring out the terrain for my next venture east of the dam. I then decided to take the long way back to the dam, via roads. Good exercise, but a bit boring. The highlight of my ‘road-trip’ was a crested saguaro, documented on previous photo sets, but since I’m photo-happy …….. I took some pics of this excellent specimen. 
This was my first hike ‘east-of-the-dam’, but won’t be my last. I’ll be back very soon to wander some more, in search of a different frustum - I better do it before that shoreline-shortcut gets even longer due to rising waters. |
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Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
J.R.R.TOLKIEN |
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