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| Hiking | 10.20 Miles |
2,769 AEG |
| | Hiking | 10.20 Miles | 6 Hrs 20 Mns | | 1.61 mph |
| 2,769 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | It’s been a while since I’ve done a hike with a sizable HAZ group. For this one it was me, Alex, Joe, Bruce and Wally. The Lucky Strike Trail is remote enough that not many people have done it. We did this one the opposite way of what would probably be the smarter way, starting at the top at the Billy Lawrence TH and hiking down to FR203 and then back up. Since my tires are over 5 years old and have significantly less tread than when I bought them, I decided it would be less of a risk to take FR410 and FR235.
We started just a little before 8am. The views at the top are really extraordinary. As you descend, you also get some really nice views of Center Mountain. Bruce was in charge of all the side trips and posting photos.  The first one was a spring near the top. He and Wally did that while Joe, Alex and I continued down the main trail.
As is normally the case, Alex and Joe got ahead of me and would occasionally stop to wait up. At one of these wait up spots, as I arrived, Joe pointed towards an overgrown patch on the trail and said I could go first to help break up the brush since he didn’t wear long pants. We got several yards in and the trail didn’t seem to clear up much. In fact, it seemed to get worse. Finally someone decided to check a GPS and it turns we were no longer on the main trail, but on one of the side trips to a mine. Turns out Joe missed the switchback. ](https://hikearizona.com/dex2/images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall") Or else he set me up on another bushwhack.  We immediately decided to abort that route and on our way back to the main trail, Bruce and Wally were already on their way out to mine.
The top 2 miles of this trail are fairly shady. After that, it begins to open up. The middle mile is very exposed and gets much rockier and steeper in spots. As it begins to level out, towards the bottom, lots of scrub brush and manzanita are prominent. It was at this point we found the junction to Grapevine Trail. There’s no forest service marker there, but the trail is easy to find and seems to be in decent shape for the 20’ or so I hiked it. This definitely seems like a plan for a future hike once I get some new tires. 
After that, the trail starts to climb again and even face west, giving some nice views of Center Mountain again, but also of how far you have to go back up. There are a couple more shady spots here. After the climb, it’s actually a pretty steep and rocky descent down to FR203. It was during this descent that I could feel my left big toe hurting. I would later find that there was a small hole in my sock that it peeked out of, making a nice blister and almost cutting off the circulation to the tip of my toe (see photo). 
At the bottom, there was again no forest service marker to note the start of the trail. There also wasn’t any apparent space to park.  Just below the road it looked like a corral that Bruce was checking out. I knew it would be a long slog back up and I needed to conserve energy and water.
The first mile hiking up did feel like a deathmarch.  The forecast for the bottom was 86, but my thermometer said 96. While was steep hiking down, it seemed even steeper hiking up. I had to stop several times to catch my breath, which I normally don’t need to do. It was normally about the time that I stop for lunch, but I wasn’t feeling hungry at all. In fact, I felt a tad nauseous. I was feeling thirsty even with regular sips from my Camelbak and was beginning to have some real concerns about not having enough water to make it to the top. After an hour, we decided to stop in a shady spot and have lunch. I ate most of my usual Taco Bell lunch, drank a liter of water, and topped of my Camelbak again. From there, the rest of the hike was much easier for me. I hadn’t eaten in almost 8 hours at that point, and I think that had a lot to do with it, along with the heat at the bottom and the steep terrain. By the time we got to the junction of the Grapevine Trail again, the cloud cover increased, giving us some shady relief, and the breezes were more common. I checked my thermometer again and it read 86, which made a huge difference.
We got back to the top without incident and got home ok. It felt really good to get cleaned up after this hike. Topped the day off with baby back ribs on the grill and some beers.   |
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