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| North Fork East Fork Black River, AZ | | -
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| | North Fork East Fork Black River, AZ | | | |
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North Fork East Fork Black River, AZ
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| Hiking | 6.30 Miles |
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| | Hiking | 6.30 Miles | | | |
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| no partners | | Went for a hike near Crosby Crossing on the North Fork of the East Fort of the Black River. It's a beautiful drive to this area from Show Low this time of year. Green meadows that go on for ever rimmed by forests of Ponderosa, Blue Spruce and misc other evergreen trees with groves of Aspen scattered here and there. My initial plan had been to park at Crosby Crossing and hike down the river but there had been a heavy rain that night and the river was running a little high. I envisioned needing to cross the river multiple times and didn't feel like doing a lengthy day hike with wet feet. So I opted to start out on the ridge to the west of the river and hiked along a little used 4x4 road heading south. There were great views of the surrounding area before the road dipped into the forest.
The road approached the edge of the river canyon and I decided to follow a draw down to the river. After following the river for a 100 yds I got tired of frequent wading and crawling over logs and started to long for those distant views from up on top of the ridges. So I crossed the river and climbed up the south side of the canyon. This area had been burned probably by the Wallow Fire. The canyon side was covered with clumps of new growth aspen and wild raspberry vines. There were a few ripe berries not yet picked by the flock of robins - very tasty. I followed the ridge top along the river making a loop back towards my starting point. I stopped for lunch on a rocky point overlooking the river below. The canyon bottom was wider here with meadows along the bank of the river which looked inviting. So I followed another draw back down to the river and followed it upstream after crossing over to the other side. I could see swirls in the water where fish were feeding but I couldn't see the fish because of the muddy water caused by the heavy rains the night before. There was an area called Nine Springs along this stretch of the river with multiple seeps on the hillside. This area was exceptionally lush with flowers and wild onions mixed with the meadow grasses. After following the river for about a mile I hiked back up to the ridge on the west side and returned to my car. |
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