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| Hiking | 6.20 Miles |
1,026 AEG |
| | Hiking | 6.20 Miles | 5 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.13 mph |
| 1,026 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Hiked the eastern half of the Cuff Button Trail with The Grasshopper and his friend Ken. We had two vehicles, Grasshopper in his Jeep and me in my Xterra. We communicated by our walkie talkies since the trip to the "trailhead" is just as much an adventure, if not more so, than the actual hike itself.
To do this hike from the eastern end, it requires taking FR287 up to FR305, making a left and driving to where the road tends to fade away into a trail. After that, drive another half a mile and the "trailhead" has parking for about 3 cars, max. I drove FR305 just under 3 years ago doing this trail as a shuttle hike from the Miles Ranch TH. At that time, my friend and I drove back on FR305 as far as we could with only two 2WD 4-cyl. vehicles. Since it had been so long since I was out there, I had some troubles remembering where to turn at times. On top of that, the area has changed somewhat. I thought that the two gates you pass thru were on FR287, but it turns out they're on FR305. Besides that, the one gate has been removed and a nice new cattle guard has been placed there and the second gate was already open. Before we turned onto FR305, I decided to go straight and thru a gate right ahead of us. Taking that road took me right into Horrell Ranch amongst cows, horses, and a pen of very annoyed barking dogs. I decided to turn around quickly and radio The Grasshopper not to follow me in before someone walked out with a shotgun.
We drove down FR305 and made a right turn at an intersection after I had decided to go straight. Grasshopper had done some research on Kanode's website to know which way to go. I did not. After a ways down FR305, the trees and bushes began to creep into the road more and more causing the dreaded Arizona pinstriping. For Grasshopper, this is no issue at all. For my vehicle being less than a year old, it is somewhat an issue, but I bought this car for these kind of trips and I used to get AZ pinstriping on my old Amigo and after a few coats of wax, the scratches do buff out. After letting me know this was the right way to go, I was surprised to hear Grasshopper's friend ask me on the radio, "Are you sure this is the road?" Yes, I did remember at some point on FR305 you look for tire tracks the way you look for footprints on a faint trail.
At one point we encountered the first section where the branch jutting into the road was rather formidable. A scratch from this could cause serious paint damage and maybe even more. Fortunately, I had my collapsible hand-saw that I use for yardwork with me. The blade is pretty thick and has two rows of teeth, so its pretty formidable itself and cuts thru most branches like they're made of butter. We spent a few minutes pruning that section of the tree obstructing the road and were on our way.
Since I had made it out and back on FR305 with a 2WD 4-cyl. 3 years earlier, I decided to keep my car in 2WD as long as I could. That worked pretty well until I got to a point where a drainage/stream crossed the road and I got stuck in it. My back wheel was right behind 3 big rocks and the car stalled out. When I got out to look, the rocks had knocked off the front splash guard. As I began to remove the rocks, Grasshopper asked me a few questions about why I got stuck and advice on how to avoid it again. That's when I told him:
"Well, I'm not in 4-wheel yet."
"WHAT??!! WHY?!! I've been in 4-wheel since we got on the dirt road. That's bad for your drive train to do that. Put it in 4WD!"
"Yeah, you're right. What's a drive train?"
After immediately switching over to 4WD for the remainder of the drive in, crawling over the rocks and wash crossings was extremely easier. I needed Grasshopper's help to spot me in certain places that get me nervous that I'll roll it. Much of the wash and stream areas have very uneven areas where its very narrow to drive thru with steep drop offs. Once section had a choice of a very narrow section on sand that was about 3 feet up or the section adjacent to that that had huge river rock all thru it. After the junction of FR305 and FR306, we encountered a big tree branch across the "road". I walked over with my handy-dandy hand saw and began cutting. Within about 10 min. we had the 1' diameter branch cut and moved out of the way. The Forest Service owes us for all the trimming we did. About 200' further, we parked and finally began the hike.
Grasshopper and Ken did Cuff Button in the last year from Miles Ranch and only got halfway. They had a point marked on a GPS where they got to and their goal was to make it to this point and thereby complete this trail. I had done this trail in its entirety and remember all too well the equal parts of manzanita and catclaw along the portion on the hill. If time allowed, we were planning to hike up FR306 and finish the last half mile of Trail 213 that I never finished in December.
Things went well for the first 2 miles (?) or so in the wash. Lots of shade, moderate temps, nice scenery. Grasshopper brought a new pair of clippers and was (it turns out prematurely) using all his energy clipping the branches. Ken and I were far ahead of a lot of times because of this and we would periodically stop and wait. We found the spot where the stream goes to the southwest at Burro Spring to follow a route that will take you back to Miles Ranch TH if you ever decide to do this as a loop hike from there.
Finally, the trail left the wash and began up the hill. Now the fun part begins. Almost immediately I found a big heavy Motorola walkie talkie with a red "J" painted on it. (If anyone lost this, contact me.) Ken and I got up about a half mile before we decided to stop and wait for Grasshopper. We also got rather tired of pushing thru all the brush. We called a few times and got no response. Finally we remembered that we had our radios and decided to turn it on and were able to talk to him. The manzanita bush was so thick that he thought the trail ended and decided to turn around and go back into the wash. We informed that he was on the right trail and to just push thru the manzanita and the trail would be on the other side. I asked him about his clippers and he said he had already worn his hands out clipping so much in the wash.
Grasshopper soon arrived and we began to make our way up further. The manzanita got thicker and was interspersed with equal parts catclaw. We were all scratched up pretty good. After a while, we lost the trail and ended up in a camping area. We looked a little while for the trail with no luck. Our GPS's said we were about a quarter mile away from Grasshopper and Ken's goal waypoint. After a few minutes, I decided the shade in this camping area was too tempting. I told I was going to take my lunch there and wait while they completed their mission. As I settled in, sat and ate, I could hear them go off to the left and come back, go straight up and come back, etc. It took them about 10 minutes to find the trail again. Grasshopper invited me to come up once they got there. I thought about it and after 15 minutes I called on the radio:
"Did you guys make it up there yet?"
"(very out of breath) Almost. Almost there."
So I waited another 5 minutes.
"Did you guys make it up there yet?"
"(very out of breath) Almost. Almost there."
No way was I going any further. They finally informed me once they got there and took a 20 min. lunch. I started back downhill a few minutes before they did, taking my time. Going back downhill in a few spots it was tricky to stay on the trail, but after some searching, it was findable. They caught up with me at the corral at the end of the wash. From there it was pretty uneventful hike back to the cars and drive back out on FR305. No blisters on my feet at all this time, looks like the new soles on the boots are finally broken in. we finished about 3:30pm (after starting at 10am) so there was no time to explore up FR306. we were also pretty much low on water, also.
On my way back, I made a stop in Superior to gas up at 10 cents less per gallon than in Phoenix, ($2.89, what a bargain!!!). I got home just as the clock struck BEER:30 and ate a nice steak dinner off the grill. |
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