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| Hiking | 6.00 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 6.00 Miles | 4 Hrs | | 1.50 mph |
| | 20 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | I left the house at about 4:30 pm on Weds, June 4 headed to the Chiricahua Mountains - another one of my favorite places. I arrived outside of Rustler Park after 7 pm. Rustler Park is closed so I found a flat spot near there and pitched my REI Camp Dome 2. It's a nice tent - not really a backpack tent, but works well for car camping.
It was a clear night and the stars were impressive. The only bad thing was the wind blew pretty hard all night. I was in an area with quite a few burned trees and every time I got to sleep, something would hit the tent and wake me up. I had Desert Solitaire loaded on my Kindle and would read a chapter or so each time I woke up - turned out to be a pretty good night.
Was up fairly early and loaded tent and stuff into the jeep. Headed out on the Crest Trail - I decided to take Bootlegger Tr since I have not been that way. There were some very nice views to the North, West and East. Fairly open hillsides on the first mile or so of Bootlegger Tr. I came to an intersection with Rock Spring Tr #259 and it said the Crest Tr was 3/4 mile. I had to get back to town early so I decided to head towards the Crest Tr. It was a brutal 3/4 mile - felt like 5. If there was a trail I never really found it. Very steep and loose rocks. Made it to the saddle and Crest Tr. I decided to have a snack and cook some coffee. It was a beautiful spot. I was relaxing having some hot coffee thinking what a lucky person I am to be able to do this. So far this morning I had seen a couple deer and a Great Horned Owl. I heard something behind me and turned around to a very large bear standing about 30 yards away. When I stood up, I think I confused the bear. I said, "bear, you need to go on about your business." He looked at me and chomped / snorted a couple times and walked off. In the excitement I got my phone out and started taking pictures...unfortunately I had moved it to video, so I took about 10 one or 2 second videos. Once I figured it out I took a very poor video of the bear walking off - I loaded it on youtube. You can see it here http://youtu.be/5PgYBG8qMdQ
I know it's a terrible video, but a very nice Chiricahua Black Bear. I finished breakfast and hiked back to the jeep and headed home for some family stuff. It was a very nice, short trip overall. Even if you are not going to hike, it's worth the drive to head up there to Rustler or Barfoot Lookout area. Rough, rugged, beautiful country. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Hillside Spring |
Dripping |
Dripping |
| | | Very little water in the box. Like all of Az, we need RAIN! | | _____________________
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Route Editor
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